M
I
I,
I North scorpi
I Friday For Ti
Half-time festivities add to
Twenty-sixth Year, Number 5
| Oyster ?
1
Opens Of
BY DOUG RUTTER
The first day of oyster season,
usually a reason to celebrate in the
communities which border the rivers
of Brunswick County, was not a day
for celebration this year.
Besides the fact that the Lockwood
Folly River, a major source of
oysters in the county, remained closed
due to pollution, those gathering
oysters in Shallotte River found the
shellfish to be small and scarce as
they walked the beds during Saturday
evening's low tide.
Shirley Hewett of Wilmington, who
like many others ^ ,r
Shallotte River
opening day was
enough for a good V' r
meal, said the ff V jA-'
harder to come
by than they used to
be. "It's been Hcwett
five or six years since I've been and it
will probably be another five before I
come back," she said, as she carried
off a bucket half full with oysters.
Added David Gray of Shallotte,
"There's not too many of them out
here. They're scattered."
Gray, who works as a welder during
the week, was picking oysters
side by side with Darren Hewett of
Wilmington. They were both looking
for enough to feed themselves but
were having a hard time filling their
baskets.
"It's got where it's hard to find
anything in this river anymore," said
Gray. After picking up another
AAeel
Lockwood Folly River, once the
county's prime shellfishing area but
iiuw uiuacu to uai vest since August,
will be the focus of a meeting
scheduled next Wednesday, Oct. 26,
for state officials and concerned local
residents.
The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. in
the public assembly building at the
Brunswick County Government
Center in Bolivia. It was initiated by
a request from Save Our Shellfish
(SOS), a local group of concerned
citizens formed to protect the river
and its natural resources.
Bob Jamieson, Wilmington
regional supervisor of the N.C.
| N.C. Festival E
Will Offer Wet
Activities and prizes galore aw;
year's N.C. Festival By-The-Sea a
weekend, Oct. 28-30.
The festival will get underway
ween Carnival at Tri-Beach Volui
contest, haunted house and plenty c
carnival, which begins at 6:30 p.m.
Saturday's festivities begin wit
mile run will begin at 8 a.m. and wi
8:30 a.m. All races will start at the
A new twist for the festival, i
Saturday beginning at 8:30 a.m. It
from the regional beach access fac
The festival parade, which one
division, travel along the mainland
bridge, Will begin at 11 a.m.
Following the parade, a horse:
both singles and doubles competitic
Pavilion. Also at 1 p.m., card gam
Community Building on Stanbury I
I .ater in thp aftprnnnn a 1nncr-rl
Beach Driving Range and a sand sci
strand in front of Campground By1
A street dance, sponsored by \
night from 7:30 until 11:30 at the fo
The annual arts and crafts show
day from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. at the ri
of food booths will be set up and e
I'. throughout the weekend.
ILook for more information on
special supplement to be included in
Beacon.
E
? ?
ions Travel we!
ojan Homecon
the excitement, Page 8-B.
HOAG & SONS BOOK BINOE
1:
PO BOX :
SF'R INGPORT MI 49284
0 ' I'M 1HE BRUNSWICK BEACON
' *i;'t ls3KfcA&!ffM99 11 MSHH
fc.
Reason
i Sour Note
cluster of oyster shells and tapping
them with his metal pipe, he added,
"If you get looking around at all the .1
people that's out here you can see ?
why, I reckon."
Oyster flats in Shallotte River,
which saw relatively little action ?
Saturday morning at sunrise when
the season officially opened, were
packed that evening when the tide 1, i
was lowest just after 6 p.m. The mor- ^9
ning low tide occured at 5:30 and the
beds were almost covered when the
sun peaked over the horizon at about *
7:15 a.m. A
Roger Gore of Ash said he drove by
the river early Saturday morning l/
and didn't see too many collecting ; /
oysters. Those that were out, he add- /
ed, had to stay pretty close to their
boats since the tide was rising.
"There's a lot of them in here but
Cfi
they're small," he said of the oysters
he found. "It doesn't seem they've
grown in the last year or two." . ,
Gore, who was gathering his first a
shellfish of the season with Donnie "
811
Milligan of Waccamaw and his son,
Donnie Milligan II, added that the sa
oysters were hard to find since they sc
were covered with a lot of old shells.
U T 1 J>U ?1- ? ? f
i vYuuiuu i wurit inis nara ior a w
bushel of oysters and then turn J
around and sell them." wc
The elder Milligan speculated that mi
the "red tide," which infested local
shellfish last season when about 200 ha
miles of the state's coastline was ro
closed to shellfishing, may have had Ca
an effect on the growth of the oysters, ho
"They don't look too great," he he
said "Last year I came down here a sel
couple of times and got a bushel pret\
Next Week
Department of Natural Resources Di
and Community Development, will D<
chair the meeting, at which a broad i
range of issues is expected to be ofi
discussed. tei
Among other things, officials are ta
expected to present the latest infor- de
mation on the status of the river and foi
to hear concerns of citizens who at- on
tend. 5ft
State agencies invited include the de
NRCD divisions of Environmental toi
Management, Marine Fisheries, ha
Coastal Management, and the Land m.
Quality section of the Division of m
Land Resources. Also invited is se
Shellfish Sanitation, a section of the st<
I. . tI e*
>y me oea
skend Of Fun
?t both young and old visitors at this
t Holden Beach, scheduled for next
lcl
Friday night with the annual Hallo- j
iteer Fire Department. A costume
f children's games will highlight the .fl
$5
ih three early morning runs. A one11
be followed by 5K and 10K runs at K
firehouse. m
i surfing contest, will also be held
will take place on the strand across
ility under the high-rise bridge,
e again will start at Sea Trace sub- ?
causeway and end at the base of the s)
31
shoe pitching tournament featuring
>n will get underway at Ocean View
es will begin at the Lockwood Folly
toad.
riving contest will be held at Holden
olpture contest will take place on the
The Sea near the island's west end.
iVDZD radio, will be held Saturday
ot of the old bridge. T,
r will be held both Saturday and Sun- ^
jgional beach access facility. Plenty w
intertainment will also be provided sj
the N.C. Festival By-Thc-Sea in a D
i next week's issue of The Brunswick | jy
rr
i
ning
Shallotie, Norlh Carolina,
b\ v
i*' *
k;.. ' n'-' -f|j
STAFF PHOTO BY OOU~-RUTTER
DNNIE MILLIGAN II of Wacmaw
breaks shells away from an
ster Saturday evening during the
st day of oyster season as his
iner (background) slowly fills his
ickct in Shallotte River. Most
ellfishermen working opening day
id the oysters were small and
arce compared to previous years.
easily. But it's rough this year."
\dded Milligan, "The ones I'm
irried about are the people who
ake their living doing this."
At least some who make a living
rvesting oysters are having a
ugh time with the young season,
irson Varnam, who owns an oyster
use in Varnamtown, said Tuesday
had only seven or eight bushels to
1 opening day, the worst one in his
(See OYSTER, Page 2-A)
; Will Focu
vision of Health Services in the
:partment of Human Resources.
County commissioners and local
Eicials they choose to invite will attid.
Also invited are representives
of Channel Side Corp., a
velopment firm that had applied
r permits to build a 50-slip marina
i the river as an amenity for a
D-acre golf course and residential
veiopmeiu. a unannei siae direcr
and partner, Mason Anderson,
is since said the permit request
ay be amended. Instead of a
arina, the firm decided to consider
eking approval for dry boat
irage only, both to be a "good
Reward
BY RAHN ADAMS
Some "extra incentive" that instigators
hope will help them solve
Shallotte area man's murder came
st week in the form of a reward ofred
by the state.
The Governor's Office announced
st Wednesday that it will pay up to
,000 for information leading to the
Test and conviction of Darwin
ingsley "I^ing" Freeman's
mrderer.
The 74-year-old Freeman's body
as found on Sunday, Sept. 25,
ound 4 a.m., at Anchor Lumber
ampany on U.S. 17 south of
lallotte. He had been bound hand
id foot, and shot once in the head.
Winnafcx
BY RAHN ADAMS
Investigators had no suspects
uesday in the shooting deaths of
iree Winnabow area residents
hose bodies were found Friday inde
their arson-damaged home.
Brunswick County Sheriff John C.
avis identified the victims as
iarion E. "Cowboy" Meetze, 48; the
lan's wife, Ginger R. Meetze, 32;
km
J |_ ;.-C*'.:'ii3^
% '
Thursday, October 20, 1988
Local Oystc
National W<
BY DOUG RUTTER
State oyster shucking champion
Cathy Carlisle came about as close
as anyone can come to winning a second
national shucking title Sunday
without winning it.
It all came down to 11 ticks of the
clock at the St. Mary's County I
Seafood Festival in Leonardtown,
Md.
After capturing the national
women's championship with relative
ease, something she has done two of
the past three years, the 25-year-old
Boone's Neck resident faced off
against the men's winner for the national
championship and came up
just 11 seconds short.
Archie Miller of Venice, Fla., |
runner-up in the men's division last
year, was the winner of the 1988 national
contest. He shucked and arranged
his tray of 24 oysters in 2:01
minutes. After penalty time was added
for cut oysters and oysters not fully
separated from their shell, he
posted an adjusted time of 2:58.
Carlisle had 55 penalty seconds added
to her time of 2:14 for an adjusted
time of 3:09 minutes.
She won the national championship
in 1986 and placed third in the
women's division last year.
"I did better than I thought I
would. It was pretty close," Mrs.
Carlisle said after returning to work
Tuesdav rnnrnincr at I.lnvH'c Htrofan
o -- ?-j- House
at Shallotte Point.
Tom Burke, administrator of the
St. Mary's festival, said it looked like '
Carlisle had a chance to repeat her
championship, "but Archie Miller
was extremely fast and neat."
is On Lockv
neighbor" to the nearby Varnamtown
community and the state and
for economic reasons.
No Change Yet
However, as of Tuesday, neither
the Wilmington nor Raleigh office of
the N.C. Division of Coastal Management
had received any modification.
The original application is still in the
"pending" file, awaiting additional
information before its final consideration.
If such an amendment is submitted,
said Jim Hertstine, the division's
Wilmington regional supervisor, the
new information would be circulated
for comment. It would go not to all 14
Offered In I
Brunswick County Sheriff's Det.
Lindsay Walton said Friday that
authorities are "following leads" but
have "nothing concrete" in the investigation.
The reward offer, which was requested
by the sheriff's department,
doesn't mean lawmen have drawn a
blank in the murder probe, "it just
means any extra incentive helps,"
Walton said.
Freeman, who was owner and
manager of Anchor Lumber, lived in
an efficiency apartment located at
the rear of the firm's office building.
His body was discovered by
firefighters who had been called to
dw Slayings
and her daughter from a previous
mnrriaotJ Minholln H AmnW
MAIVIIVMV IUIIU1U, IV.
Their home was located on N.C. 87
in the Winnabow community, about
four miles from U.S. 17 toward Maco,
Davis said.
"We're following up what leads we
have at this time," Davis told the
Beacon. "We have some leads, but no
suspects." The SBI also is involved in
weekend Fes
To celebrate
Your guide to the festivities
25c Per Copy
?r Shucker
men's Che
W B 7j
mHom
BEACON FILE PHOTO
CATHY CARLISLE, pictured here
at the 1986 National Oyster Shucking
Contest, won her second national
women's title Sunday and finished
runner-up in the national championship.
"It was extremely competitive. It
was exciting," added Burke, adding
that approximately 25,000 people attended
the festival. He said grandstands
overflowed during the shucking
contest, which included
preliminary heats Saturday and the
finals Sunday.
In the women's championship
final, Mrs. Carlisle shucked her tray
of oysters in an adjusted time of 3:02.
That included 35 penalty seconds for
various infractions but was still 22
seconds faster than the defending national
women's champion, Deborah
/ood Folly
agencies that commented on the
original applications, but only to
those affected. These at minimum
would include the divisions of Marine
Fisheries, Coastal Management and
Land Management, as well as the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
For the past three weeks, he noted,
the Channel Side application has
been handled mainly by the Coastal
Management office in Raleigh, not
Wilmington.
Asking For Details
Several weeks ago Brunswick
County Commissioner Chris Chappell
wrote the Division of Shellfish
Sanitation seeking more information
.oca I Murd
put out an small fire that lawmen
believe was set to destroy evidence.
A newspaper carrier had spotted the
blaze around 3:30 a.m.
Authorities said the victim, whose
hands and feet had been tied behind
him, was found on the floor in a doorway
between the office and living
area. The body was not burned,
because fire damage was confined to
the living area. The SBI said a
"petroleum-based accelerant" was
used to set the fire.
An autopsy indicated that
Freeman died of a single .22-caliber
gunshot wound to the left side of his
head about 30 minutes before the fire
was reported.
Puzzle Au
the murder and arson investigation.
Davis said all three deaths apparently
were homicides, since no
evidence of a murder-suicide has
been found.
He added that lawmen have "no
idea" about a possible motive for the
murders. "It doesn't appear that robbery
was a motive," he said.
Authorities were notified of the
V
tival's Time
The Oyster
is inside!
64 Pages, 4 Sections
Claims
impionship
Pratt of Urbanna, Va., who finished
second this year.
"There was a lot more competition
this year than there was last year,"
added Mrs. Carlisle. There were nine
women competing this year, she explained,
while there have been only
five or six in past years.
In her preliminary heat Saturday,
Carlisle posted an adjusted time of
3:36 which included 1:15 in penalties.
Although her time was second
fastest in the preliminaries, it was
good enough to put her in the
women's final for the third straight
year. The women's final on Sunday
was contested by a field of sue
shuckers including the defending
women's champion and Sarah Hammond,
the 1987 Virginia Oyster
Shucking Champion, who posted the
fastest time during the preliminary
rounds.
For her victory, Carlisle received
$300 in cash, an automatic bye into
the women's final at next year's contest
and maybe another shot at the
national championship, added
Burke.
Tara Futch, also of Boone's Neck,
entered the contest for the second
year in a row but failed to qualify for
the women's final this time. In her
preliminary heat, she posted a time
of A-.St which included 1:15 in penalty
time. She finished fifth in the
women's competition last year.
Carlisle, who will go for her third
consecutive state oyster shucking
championship this Saturday afternoon
during the N.C. Oyster Festival,
said, "I got some practicing to do but
I'm ready."
River
on why the river was closed. Chappell,
who is one of three commissioners
seeking re-election next
month, is general manager for Channel
Side's Lockwood Folly development.
He said the marina has not been
built yet and could not have caused
the closing, but that he was taking
some criticism because of dual role
with the county and the development
firm. "I'm trying to find out as much
as I can," he said.
Chappell said wherever the pollution
is coining from, he wants to see
the situation corrected, but added
(See MEETING, Page2-A)
er Case
"The only possible motive we've
still got is robbery at this time,"
Walton said Friday. However,
without revealing what was missing
from the office building, the detective
noted that "very little" apparently
was stolen.
According to Walton, Freeman was
last seen alive by his employees on
Sept. 24 around 5 p.m. when Anchor
Lumber closed for the weekend.
Walton said anyone having information
concerning Freeman's
murder should contact him or SBI
Special Agent Kelly Moser at the
Brunswick County Sheriff's Department
at 253-4321 or 1-800-672-6379.
thAri+iac
a a iv/l l I
deaths Friday around 4:30 p.m.,
after the bodies were found by some
of Meetze's co-workers who checked
on him because he had been absent
from work at the Wilmington B.F.
Goodrich plant, Davis said.
The sheriff noted that the Meetzes
moved to Brums wick County from
Greenville County, S.C., in March.
(See WINNABOW, I'age 2-A)