She
Shallotte residents flocked to th<
overwhelmingly support the off-prerr
tified wines within the town limits.
Voters indicated their support
referendum by almost a two-to-one
Cotes in favor of the measure and 145
"I wasn't surprised, and I'm
Shallotte Mayor Jerry Jones said Tue
The mayor added that he agree
managers, who requested the referer
Dolli fortified and unfortified wines
available in town.
J?
Twenty-seventh Year, Numl
Republi
Celebrc
Since S
BY SUSAN USHER
Jubilant Brunswick County
Republicans whooped and clapped
Tuesday as they celebrated their
largest sweep at the local polls since
1972. They re-elected incumbent
Commissioner Frankie Rabon and
filled three other county offices.
Turnout was high as predicted
earlier by Board of Elections Supervisor
Lynda Britt. Based on presidential
returns, an estimated 62.5 percent
of the county's 28,346 voters cast
ballots. The largest turnout was in
Shingletree Precinct in the Calabash
area, at 1,799.
A large crowd lingered at the
Public Assembly Building in Bolivia
for the returns as a number of races
remained close much of the night.
Wnll hofnPO the* locf nronin/it T
UVU Mwa.vra?~ WIN. lUPb pi CUUICI., UCItWIU,
reporting at 11:45 p.m., local
Republicans closed their nearby
headquarters and moved the celebration
to the return center.
When Frankie Rabon, from
District 4, returns to the Brunswick
County Board of Commissioners on
Dec. 5, he will bring with him a GOP
majority in Kelly Holden and Gene
Pinkerton.
Robert Slockett will take office as
the sole Republican on the Brunswick
County Board of Education,
defeating retired veteran educator
Jonathan Hankins for the District 3
seat now held by James Forstner.
In the tightest contest of the evening,
Pinkerton, a semi-retired
businessman and newcomer to local
politics, wrested the District 3 seat
from the incumbent, Democrat Jim
Poole, by a 192-vote margin. By the
unofficial count the spread was sufficient
to bar a challenge. However, official
results won't be available until
aner me tsoara or Elections canvass
today (Thursday).
Shallo
wB
'i
CLAIRE EMERSON of Southeastori
proposed group home for mentally r<
hearing while Rex Gore, left, looks
whom were from the John and Millik
planned, packed Shallottc Town Hal
\
illotte Voter
i polls Tuesday to The alcohol co
uses sale of unfor- Dog 20/20 and Thui
while unfortified v
by passing the less than 14 perce
margin, with 293 are sold in local gi
against it.
glad it passed," Jones reasonei
sday night. content already ai
d with local store should be allowed
idum in April, that would have been
should be readily already available.
Voters in both
I IT" HOAG & SONS BOOK
jl SF'R I NGF'ORT MI ^ 4
Der 1 (01988 THE BRUNSWICK BEACON
icons Sec
jte Most
weep in
Vote Said Message
Holden, a self-employed farmer
and businessman, led the local GOP
ticket with 9,712 votes in defeating
District 1 incumbent Chris Chappell.
Chappell is serving his sixth year on
the board.
While presidential or gubernatorial
"coattails" mattered, Holden said he
thought local issues were of greater
importance in Tuesday's county elections.
"I think it was the lack of confidence
in county government I've
talked about in my campaign." As
one example, he cited the current
board's manner of developing a county
budget, which he said has been
"haphazard and not well prepared"
for the past several years.
Holden said environmental issues
such was water quality in Lockwood
Folly River?including his
opponent's involvement with
developers of a project along the
river, "definitely made a
difference," even in areas not directly
affected by the river situation.
Overall, Tuesday's results indicate,
said Holden, that "Brunswick
County is ready for a two-party
system. Individual candidates will be
voted on their own merits, not party
labels. That's the one message sent."
Of his own victory, Holden said he
was "speechless," that it was by a
greater margin than he had hoped
for.
Democrats Elected
Returned to office were Democrats
Clerk of Court Diana Morgan,
Register of Deeds Robert Robinson,
Coroner Greg White and District 1
Board of Education member Doug
Baxley. Currently serving by appointment,
Morgan and Whits won
election to office in their own right,
with Morgan leading the local
Democrats with 11,270 votes.
tte Residen
STAFf PHOTO BY DOUG RUTTER
i Mental Health makes a point about the
Jtarded adults during last week's public
> on. About 40 area residents, most of
en street area where the home has been
1 to oppose that location.
1
"s Favor Wir
intent of fortified wines, such as Mad t
tiderbird, is between 14 and 20 percent, i
fines?also called dinner wines?have 5
nt alcohol. Unfortified wines already
ocery stores. 1
d that since wines with higher alcohol ;
re permitted, wines with less alcohol <
as well. He said the outcome probably t
different if fortified wines weren't i
of the town's precincts favored unfor- (
aa B fg
l~i T K inrr.t
Shallotte, North Carolina, The
it Four,
Wins
1972
"I'm real glad, I'm thrilled to
death," said Morgan, praising supporters
for their hard work. "But I
feel bad not everybody is doing as
well."
The only new Democrat to gain
public office was Donna Baxter of
Boiling Spring Lakes, who will fill the ;
District 4 school board seat now held
by Marvin McKeithan, a Democrat
from Bolivia. Baxter defeated
Republican John Watkins.
Regional Races
Rep. E. David Redwine won reelection
handily with 11,555 votes in
Brunswick County; his opponent,
Rozell Hewett was the low votegetter
of the night with 6,304. Returns
from Pender and New Hanover counties
were unavailable; the 14th
district includes one township in
each.
Sen. R.C. Soles Jr. also won reelection,
garnering "25,854 votes to
GOP contender Randy Sullivan's
14,980.
U.S. Rep. Charles G. Rose also won
re-election.
'We'll Be Back'
While Republicans celebrated
Tuesday, many Democrats did not.
However, most expressed optimism
regarding future elections.
While Party Chairman W.A. (Bill)
Stanley went home before all 22 ?
precincts had reported, Treasurer I
Louis Vernon Ward made the rounds :
in his wheelchair, congratulating i
winners of both parties. i
"We should congratulate them, 5
they did a good job," he said. "You
go out and do your best, congratulate s
the winners then go and start work- I
ing on next time. We'll be back." 1
With Tuesday's results, Ward said 1
he felt the impact of the county's i
steadily increasing number of senior
citizens "hit home."
(See REPUBLICANS, Page2-A)
te Oppose IBY
DOUG RUTTER
Despite a bombardment of complaints
from an angry group of town
rpcirlontc ni)lA nHonrlorl ft I
. VU.UV.IM ??4*vr ukbcnuL.u a puunc nearing
last week, a group home for mentally
retarded adults will be built in
Shallotte.
About 40 residents of the
neighborhood surrounding John and
Milliken streets where construction
of the home has been planned packed
the conference room in town hall last
Wednesday, with many voicing
strong opposition to the chosen location.
But after almost two hours of
sometimes heated debate between
citizens and representatives of
Southeastern Mental Health (SMH),
it was publicly announced that the
group home was coming to town
regardless of any objections. Town
board approval is not required for the
home to be built.
"nnUrt : I. nL.n-ii. ?
xiic nuuac uuiiiuig to aiiailOlie,
said SMH Chairman Rex Gore. "We
are not in a position where we are going
to jeopardize the funding we have
received."
According to Gore, Southeastern
Mental Health worked for five years
and was passed over twice before being
approved to receive some
$250,000 in federal and state funds to
build the first group home in
le Sales By
ified wine sales. The measure passed b
n Frying Pan precinct and by an
Jhallotte precinct.
Of the town's 653 registered voters
mrcent voted in Tuesday's referendum
Gerald Long, manager of Piggly Wi
aid Tuesday night that he feels unfo:
should have been allowed long ago ii
lelighted that it passed," he said. "I've
t done for 17 years."
Noting that local residents previous
Dcean Isle Beach for dinner wines, he a
vivp7
rsday, November 10, 1988
BBSS
W
WffW 'X '.;r. ->.t- . ; ' . ;
F - ' Sl?. II
f , . ..
i
A JAMMED VOTING MACHINE had
lug Pan precinct manually stuffing
several hours Tuesday morning. A
Esther Mae Gore helps Lee and Jot
Developer
With New
BY SUSAN USHER
ueveiopers of a proposed Seaside
area shopping center appeared
before the Sunset Beach town council
again Monday night with additional
-equests for annexation they hope
vvill lead to annexation of the center
>ite itself.
Unlike an earlier request for
satellite annexation, or annexation of
aroperty several miles outside the
;own limits, this proposal for con;iguous
annexation didn't get a flat
efusal.
Instead, the council voted 3-1 for
Town Administrator Linda Fluegel to
lome For A
1J1 UlldYTlLA V/UUiliy.
Although the home will be built in
Shallotte, Gore agreed last week to
see if there is time to look at other
sites in town without taking any
chance of losing the funding. He said
Monday that he expected official
notification later this week from the
N.C. Association for Retarded
Citizens, who would own and run the
home under the auspices of SMH.
Gore said last week that
Southeastern is at a stage in the funding
cycle that if it had to start over
with site location, it would probably
lose the funding. "We don't have any
options," he said. "It's either here or
we lose it."
Earlier in the hearing he had
stated that it would take about 18
months to design and build the home
and that it would not be operational
until at least June, 1990.
The group home would house a
maximum of six mentally retarded
persons over the age of 18, and would
cover oetween 2,500 and 3,000 square
feet. While primarily for Brunswick
County residents, it could be opened
to mentally retarded adults in New
Hanover and Pender counties, the
two other counties served by SMH, if
room were available.
An admissions committee which
would include at least some local
f Wide Man
%
y a 210-75 margin convenience to the p<
83-70 margin in Although the re
Long said local store
i, 438 or about 67 time. He speculated
i. Tuesday was that nev
iggly of Shallotte, ing table wines avail
tified wine sales
l Shallotte. "I'm He also said the I
been trying to get conjunction with th(
Previous referendum
ily had to drive to trading voters who o
idded, "It's just a those voters who fav
25c Per Copy 38 Pa
voters from Fry- Copas Shores fold t1
ballot boxes for Jed through the rep
bove, pollworker difficulty,
inny Browning of
s Return To
Annexatior
proceed with investigating the validi- s
ty of the annexation petition once a T
corrected version is submitted, a
Voting for Council member Ed t
Gore's motion were Kathy Hill and fi
Mary Katherine Griffith. Councilwoman
Minnie Hunt voted against n
it. Councilman A1 Odom was absent, v
It was he who made the motion at the q
Oct. 3 meeting to reject the satellite
annexation request, saying he had d
strong objections to satellite annexa- v
tion. Griffith was absent from the t
Oct. 3 meeting. 3
In voting against the move, Hunt r
told fellow members, "I believe perAentally
Ret
representation would determine ?
which adults would be allowed to live I
at the home. All would be mentally c
retarded but able to function in the r
community, and the selection pro- t
cess would be designed to keep out
persons with chronic medical or I
behavioral problems. J
SMH representative Claire Emer- \
son said, "We will accept very i
capable people into our group home 1
and we will have very capable people 1
to look after them." t
The primary purpose of the home r
would be to teach skills needed to live
independently such as cooking and 1
cleaning. The home would be under ?
24-hour-a-day supervision. \
Adults who live in the home would r
either work during the day or participate
in the Brunswick Interagen- I
cy Program at Brunswick Communi- I
ty College in Supply. s
The proposed location is on the dirt <
road extension of John Street on a
piece ui lanu wnien diviri currently [
has an option to purchase from town J
board member Jody Simmons. i
Pressured by a few citizens at last i
week's hearing, Simmons said he \
would ask his attorney if there were <
any way he could prevent the pur- <
chase from going through.
He added, however, that he knew of 1
the proposed group home when he
gin
sople of this area."
ferendum failed three years ago,
managers felt that it would pass this
that one of the reasons for passage
vcomers apparently are used to navable.
'act that the referendum was held in
; general election helped passage,
is on wine sales have stood alone, atipposed
the issue but not necessarily
ored it, he said.
ges, 3 Sections, Plus Insert
? ?
STAFF PHOTO BY SUSAN USHSR
heir hailots. The baiiots were later
aired nir.chiue and counted without
Sunset
i Requests
onaily and absolutely that we have
forth Myrtle Beach in our back yard
ind I have no doubt it will creep in,
mt I do not choose to invite it in my
ront door."
While taking the next step, council
members made no commitment this
reek to approve the corrected reuest.
"I still would like to see a referenlum
on it," said Hill, even if the vote
vould be advisory only, not binding
he town board to a specific action. '
"he board took no action to set a
eferendum.
(See DEVELOPERS, Page 2-A)
arded
mtered into the contract with SMH.
Yielding a question from the aulience,
Simmons said, "I felt if it was
lext door to me, no, it would not
>other me."
However, fellow board member
5aul Wayne Reeves, who lives on
(ohn Street, supported the residents'
dews that there may be a better site
n Shallotte for the facility. Reeves
lad first mentioned the concerns of
lis neighbors when SMH introduced
he group home at a meeting last
nonth.
Last week, he suggested that the
lome be built in a less populated area
;uch as Hinson Street where its affect
vould be less "disruptive" to the
leighborhood.
While three other locations in
Brunswick County were considered,
\.J. McClure of SMH said no other
sites in Shallotte were given serious
consideration.
"This site was found, it was in the
crice range and it was chosen," he
;aid, noting the requirements for a
>roup home location. Group homes
mist be built in residential areas
vhich have water and sewer service
ind are close to stores and emergency
services.
During the public hearing, citizens
/oiced concerns primarily about the
(See HOME, Page 2-A)