Newspapers / The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, … / Dec. 29, 1988, edition 1 / Page 1
Part of The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
TH Twenty-seventh Year, Numb Mnn > ivii i ici!*_cu On Drug Count A Columbus County man who was indicted on cocaine trafficking charges in Brunswick County's "Operation White Tide" received a probationary sentence earlier this month in Elizabethtown. According to court documents on file at the Brunswick County Clerk of Court's office, Leon Preston Parker, 25, of Whiteville, pleaded guilty Dec. 7 in Bladen County Superior Court to felonious possession of cocaine. Judge E. Lynn Johnson sentenced Parker to a suspended five-year prison term, with five years of supervised probation. Also, the defendant was ordered to pay a $300 fine and perform 150 hours of community service work within 12 months. In April, Parker was one of 48 individuals indicted on drug trafficking charges by a Brunswick County investigative grand jury. He initially was charged with two counts of conspiracy to traffic in more than 28 grams of cocaine and four counts of trafficking in more than 28 grams of cocaine. Court documents state that the trafficking charges were dismissed in Brunswick County Superior Court because Parker agreed to plead guilty to the lesser possession count. He also agreed to allow his case to be moved from Brunswick County to Bladen County to enter his plea and be sentenced. The maximum sentence for felonious possession of cocaine is five years in prison. A trafficking charge involving more than 28 grams of cocaine carries a maximum prison term of 15 years and a mandatory minimum term of seven years. Bruns 1988 was a year of continued gro County, the state's second fastest However, the year was marked by made "tides" that respectively swept negative aspects of Brunswick County The year opened with the count; battling a "Red Tide" which threater they derived from once abundant coas the spring, "Operation White Tide" in Brunswick County's lucrative "indu trade?by rounding up major cocaine The county also was caught up in ] presidential election year. While Brun ed with the flow in state and national turned here in the local school board ai sion races, as voters sought change bj the incumbents who sought re-electior Tide Brings Drug C Ten months after the state's vestigative grand jury charged 32 in eainp trafficking in RrnnQwieU C people?including a former Ocean Is ficial?were indicted April 18 on cocai trafficking charges in a continuation ( called "Operation White Tide." Among those indicted was DeCarol Ocean Isle Beach, a local businessmai commissioner. Indicted on two a charges stemming from drug offense son pleaded guilty in May and was s< year prison term and a $10,000 fine. ] August, after spending most of his pr release. Sept. 2 was an eventful day in the Tide" saga, as three key defendants Brunswick County Superior Court. Supply area resident Dale Varna tiffed by investigators as the maji county's drug probes, received a i sentence, five years of probation and Varnam had pleaded guilty in A trafficking counts?charges which i mandatory minimum sentence tota prison and a $3.8 million fine. He re sentence because he had assisted inve l'/fe years, providing them with infc "working" undercover. On the same day as Varnam's sei couple who admitted supplying cocain Brunswick County received 18-year pi Jack Truesdale, 33, and his wife, 39, both of Ft. Myers, Fla., had plead< to cocaine trafficking charges. They the suppliers for Varnam and Alvin Shallotte, who was sentenced to a 35-j December 1987. By year's end, 79 of 85 cases froi special grand jury investigations ha< with 77 of the defendants pleading guil dismissed?one, because the defent Clemmons of Supply, died before because the defendant, Francisco Nai /, | E DDI po SPRI NGF'Of er 8 ** ^-j-t^wbb xStr Christmas in the South Brunswi< match storybook images, but sum more than compensate for the lac Jesse and Stephanie Tipton of Shi Committee , To Coordino BY RAHN ADAMS Although its update of th Brunswick County Transportatio Development Plan (TDP) won't b completed for several months, i transportation steering committee i "leaning" toward asking count; commissioners to set up a new agen cy to oversee the use of county-ownei vans. wick Coun wth in Brunswick -growing county, natural and man over positive and life. I V /'s shellfishermen led the livelihoods ^ JA x ital waters. And in ? Hj \ \ lpacted another of stries"?the drug politics during this swick County rollelections, the tide id county commis- BJB $f, ' rejecting most of harges _ ^ dividuals with co- Sj|Mgl?|pSp? ,'ounty, 48 more nSaa^SjpgifrgS le Beach town ofne and marijuana if what authorities ffi B ' ""=?I Williamson, 37, of n and former town SHELLFISHE icaine trafficking docks during i s in 1984, William- February to t< mteneed to a twoHe was paroled in Fla., was indict ison term on work TrOUl continuing "White A ^de a were sentenced in oyster and clanr a bad taste in t m whn was iHpn. became even m Dr witness in the A crushing suspended 15-year August, when a was fined $2,000. because of poll ipril to 36 cocaine waters were cli nitially carried a closed to harve ling 532 years in year's ei sceived the lighter shellfishermen stigators for about tion of the riv srniation and also vironmental ag river. That cons itencing, a Florida Bolivia at whit e for distribution in the N.C. I rison sentences. sa'd a state stuc Donna Truesdale, tect the resourc ed guilty in August She' were identified as Meanwhile, Bryan Willis III of e(j about water 'ear prison term in their battles. F featured an e u the county s two Federation Pre 1 been prosecuted, Our Shellfish w ty. Two cases were T-ne organi iant, Robert Dale to a proposed n trial; the other, mentofthemai /arro of Ft. Myers, river closure ir IMCII/I )NS BOOK BINDERY^ J 0OX 1S2 I MI 49284 , . V.VIIUIIIIU, I I ; ' anded' On Christmas D ek Islands may not bare feet and shoi ly days like Sunday noon shelling aloni :k of snow. Just ask moved here from ' ell Point Village. In May Request T ito I I co Of C/-\i w v ? ' I V<V^V, The steering committee, which is e headed by Don Eggert, a county n planner, last week reviewed six e alternatives for meeting the county's a human services transportation s needs. The alternatives were y presented to the committee Dec. 19 in i- Bolivia by a representative of Carter 1 Goble Associates, the Raleigh consulting firm that is completing the A LOOK &/ ty's TideTi ; 1 IRMEN gathered at the Varnamtown the height of the red tide infestation in ?ke part in the state's oyster relay proed as a fugitive on federal drug charges. 3le At Lockwood Folly j:m a a n . ? ? * * umerem son, uie rea uae, uitesiea local i beds in the early months of 1988, leaving he mouths of local shellfishermen which lore bitter as the year progressed, blow was dealt over a two-week period in 11 of Lockwood Folly River was shut down ution. After 153 acres of prime shellfish osed Aug. 17, the remainder of the river sting on Aug. 31. id, however, there was some reprieve for as oyster and clam beds in the lower secer were opened and various state enencies committed to helping clean up the mittment followed an October meeting in :h Preston Howard, regional supervisor division of Environmental Management, ly and report recommending steps to pro:es would be completed in late winter. llfishermen Organize , local shellfishermen and others concernquality organized in 1988 to better fight 'ollowing a meeting in September which ncouraging speech from N.C. Coastal isident Lena Ritter, the local group Save as established. zation, in part, stemmed from opposition larina to be built on the river. Announcerina proposal came shortly before the first i August. I lursday, December 29, 1988 k . STAFF PHOTO BY SUSAN USHtR >ay t sleeves, they spent Sunday afterg the Holden Beach strand. The two Winston-Salem nine months ago. vJew Agency jnty Vans plan. The eight-member committee is composed of representatives from county departments including Parks and Recreation, Social Services (DSS), Mental Health, Public Health and Planning, as well as Brunswick Community College, the City ol Southport and the Town of Long (See COMMITTEE, Page 2-A) \CK AT '88 jrn With C gram. Protection of resources in Lrn was a source of controversy throug Channel -Side Corporation, i Lockwood Folly golf course coi building a 50-slip marina about 5( Galloway Flats, one of the best shel county, and applied for the necessai mit in April. Suspicious that the marina and related, locals vowed to test the wal nie Smigiel of Varnamtown, a shell became founding president of SOS,; my personal opinion, I think politics don't think it's polluted as they say Opposition to the marina becami summer when the state shut down th addition to locals, State Rep. Dav state Division of Marine Fisheries s| posal, fearing that it could harm resources in the river. Action on the permit applicat September when it was learned that submitted adequate information oi plans. In October, as water quality t county election issue, corporate offi they were considering modification < tion for construction of a dry dock s year's end, however, the original pending, awaiting Channel Side's n< For area shellfishermen, the ye of frustration as a toxic algae never waters polluted shellfish in January The red tide, an algae usually s waters, moved to North Carolina vi; 25c Per Copy 26 Shallotte Se Expansion E . Within Nex1 BY DOUG RUTTER Sometime this winter the first ma ior exnansion of Shallntfp'R fiuo.u?ir. old wastewater treatment planl should be completed, according tc the consulting engineer for the pro ject. Proposed plant improvements will allow the town to lift what has been a long-standing "moratorium" or sewage treatment allocations tc I large commercial enterprises seeking entrance into town. "It's real important," Shallotte Mayor Jerry Jones said of the proposed expansion. "If we're going tc do any further developing and expan ding of the town limits then we've gol to do something about it." J. Finley Boney of Raleigh, engineer for the town's sanitary sewer system, said Tuesday that ? designs for the expansion have beer completed and are awaiting the review of various state agencies. He said he expects no problems getting approval of the plans by late January. "They've had the plans since about the first of December," he said in a telephone interview. "I don't see why the property improvements won't be i approved." i Boney, who designed the original i town sewer plant which begar i operating in the summer of 1983, saic i the actual work at the plant shoulc ; take 30 to 60 days to complete. "Cer E tainly, before spring weather get; ; nere, we ought to have an enlargec facility," he said. ontinued G crept into local mediate closure i In response t efforts provided shellfishermen si The N.C. Div K'VCr ^ churches helped : BB "VCre C'0ar" ** l__ Oystermen, h the river after t ;jfe cleaned the tide ?1~ -??relatively short I themselves befor When the se beacon file photo closed?this time ckwood Folly River town oyster deal ;hout the year. his worst in 33 ye; appointed to the serve an unexpir developers of the Although loc nmunity, proposed estimates sugges 10 feet upstream of million in econon lfishing areas in the $5.5 million. Thei y major CAMA per- issued in Brunsw many families b 1 river closure were come, ters themselves. An- When oysten fisherman who later was only to find said at the time, "In because of the re; is behind a lot of it. I animals called Di it is." ty and warm ten a even greater in late colder weather al e rest of the river. In ing. id Redwine and the One of the fc ooke a eainst the Dro- vear for shellfish the few remaining Marine Fisheries clam harvesters ion was delayed in ed seven public ! Channel Side had not was held in Boliv n sewage treatment Oys >f the river became a While events cials announced that industry, locals )f the permit applica- popuiar oyster, itorage area only. At In October a 1 application was still in field of oys .xt move. Neck traveled to ar started out as one the National Wo seen before in local 0ne week later, s and February. title at the N.C. ( een in more tropical a the Gulf Stream. It (See 1 > Pages, 2 Sections, Plus Insert wer Plant xpected Few Months The project entails expansion of the spray field. Boney said the town ' has the equipment and personnel to ' do most or all of the work involved. ' "The town ought to be able to do it for $30,000 or $40,000," he said, compared to a cost of between $50,000 and ^ $60,000 if a private contractor were 1 hired. Mayor Jones said town 1 employees will likely do at least a ' portion of the work. The expanded irrigation field will be situated on part of a 27-aere tract 1 of land purchased earlier this year across from the existing plant on ' Forest Drive in the northeast section (See PLANT, Page 2-A) Sunset Bridge | Repairs Planned Sunset Beach residents and visitors can expect some traffic 1 flplaVQ mnct r?F novf luonlr nr^nri __...wu? W?. ?t wvn nncil 1 the state Department of Transportation plans to do some repairs to the pontoon bridge, i James Hayes, DOT bridge ' maintenance supervisor for Brunswick County, said work replacing bad decking boards I will begin Tuesday, Jan. 3, and ' should continue through Friday, 1 Jan. 6. 1 He said the repairs are not major, but will cause some delays. 3 "Every hour or two we're gonna 1 let everybody through," he said. rowth ivfltprs in btp Tannoru fArninn J jf all shellfish beds. 0 the devastation, state and local relief both food and money for hundreds of lddenly put out of work. ision of Marine Fisheries started up its 1 program in Lockwood Folly River, id Davis Creek and paid shellfishermen rom polluted areas to unpolluted areas 1 be harvested when the red tide was also implemented its "Operation Red vhich paid more than $22,000 worth of local level, the Brunswick County nformation Center and several areas feed families hurt by the red tide, ruary, toxic levels of the algae began tically and by mid-February waters eb. 27 local waters reopened to clammlowever, never got a chance to return to he red tide disappeared. While clams ;'s poisons from their systems in a :ime, oysters never completely purged e the season ended on March 19. ason reopened Oct. 16, the river was because of pollution?leading Varnamer Carson Varnam to call opening day ire qc q Kneinnccmon \7o?mom l"*" ?> U uu " uu^uvoaiiiHii. T ai 11 en 11 naa Id tci N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission to ed term which ends Sept. 30,1989. :al figures were not compiled, state t that the red tide caused more than $25 oic losses and that fishermen alone lost e were about 2,000 shellfishing licenses ick County in 1988, but it is unknown how ere depend on shellfishing for their innoen did venture back into the river, it i much of the oyster stock dead?not 1 tide. Rather, single-celled microscopic enno were flourishing in the high salinilperatures of two local rivers. But with t year's end, their numbers were declinsw bright spots in an otherwise dismal crmen, however, came in June when the i Commission voted to keen mechanical out of local waters. The decision followhearings along the coast, one of which ia in May. iter's Popular Still took their toll on the local shellfishing and tourists still paid homage to the local celebrity continued her domination iter shucking. Cathy Carlisle of Boone's Leonardtown, Md., Oct. 16 to capture men's Oyster Shucking Championship, he won her third straight state shucking lyster Festival at Seaside. On the same BRUNSWICK Page 6-A) i
The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Dec. 29, 1988, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75