Survey Says
A chamber of commerce survey draws
good response and offers an insider's
profile of vacationers to the area. Page
11-A.
I tut n
Twenty-seventh Year, Number 23 ?1989the
Resort Towr
BY DOUG RUTTER
Despite the objections of officials at three local
beach towns, Brunswick County Commissioners will
probably not rescind their decision to distribute sales
tax revenues on the basis of population instead of property
valuation.
The county board voted 4-1 last month to revise the
distribution method and has since received opposition
from officials in the resort towns of Ocean Isle RmoH
Holden Beach and Bald Head Island. Those towns stand
to lose various amounts of revenue under the new
method, which takes effect in July at the start of fiscal
year 1989-90.
County Commissioner Gene Pinkerton, who made <
the motion at the board's March 20 meeting to revise
the method of distribution, said last week it is unlikely 3
the county will go back on its earlier action.
TEACHERS AND TEACHERS ASSISTANTS applaud a s
teachers lobby in Raleigh for higher pay.
Volunteers W
While Teache
BY SUSAN USHER day's night meeting
Retired teachers, parents and Elementary School c;
regular substitutes willing to work a Of the volunteer
day without their regular pay will They're willing to c
take to Brunswick County because they support
classrooms next Tuesday. ing and want to help ;
They will clear the way for as In addition to genei
many as 200 classroom teachers and said the local deleg;
teacher assistants from Brunswick with Sen. R.C. Sole;
County plan to board charter buses David Redwine, Suf
and private vehicles for Raleigh, to Public Instruction 1
lobby in the N.C. General Assembly and possibly House
for better wages and against the Mavretic.
Career Ladder Plan advocated by
Gov. James Martin. When teachers t
Monday night Brunswick County rather than professio
Board of Education voted must usually pay i
unanimously to waive provisions of substitute,
the system's substitute policy as a Under school boar
show of support for the teachers, substitutes must eit
Watching them vote were approx- tification or be on
imately 30 teachers and teacher substitute list, whicl
assistants. they have taken a sp
Tom Simmons, a Union Primary and are approved
School teacher and District 13 Direc- substitutes at particul
tor of the North Carolina Association Next Tuesday, mc
of Educators, spoke on behalf of the subs will meet one or
proposal for the delegates at Mon- requirements.
, ,
|
Holden Beach Bui
BY DOUG RUTTER Georgia Langley oppc
Less than a week after voting to to the old policy,
give more discretion to the town's Bass was the only
building inspector in issuing permits, to change his
Holden Beach Commissioners Mon- mind. He favored
day morning reversed their decision the policy change 1
on a 3-2 vote. at the board's m
Building Inspector Dwight Carroll regular monthly *
will go back counting the number of meeting last 1
bedrooms and issuing building per- week, but made
mits on the basis of what is presented the motion this
in floor plans. week to reinstate
On April 3 commissioners had the old policy,
voted to drop the controversial pro- The board
cedure and instead follow a state agreed to ODerate
regulation which allows the building policy for 90 days be
inspector to use judgement in deter- final decision on how i
mining how a room is to be used. tcrpreted. Meanwhili
The latest reversal in town policy looking for alternativi
came at the close of a special Commissioners sail
meeting Monday. Commissioners meet with the Brui
William Williamson, Gay Atkins and Board of Health som
Gil Bass voted in favor of rescinding next three months ti
the April 3 vote, while Bob Buck and dination of enforcemc
i
IMeet A Cha
Shallotte Middle School fifth
Johnson will represent Bruns
the National Spelling Bee. Me
Page 6-B.
spftiNQf %1fe2lj
"I 4*284
BRUMS WIL
"is Oppose Chan;
1 really don't feel like
proper notice was given to
to the towns in this
particular case."
?Betty Williamson
Ocean Isle Beach Mayor
He said commissioners have apparently had no se:ond
thoughts about the move, even though the county
jlso stands to lose between $300,000 and $400,000 per
r'ear from its general fund.
Mayors at Ocean Isle Beach and Holden Beach both
school board decision to allow volunteer substitutes in Iocs
'ill Sub In Classrc
rs Lobby For Pa^
in the Bolivia However, as approved by the
afeteria. board, names of the substitutes will
s he said, " have been submitted to principals in
ome substitute advance for approval before the
what we're do- employees take leave on Anril ifi
you." School board member Donna Bax al
lobbying, he ter's comments were typical of those
ition will meet of other board members: "I do
s Jr., Rep. E. believe we should support the
>erintendent of teachers; I think it would be good
Bob Etheridge P.R.?and I like your shirts." !
Speaker Joe Many of those in the audience at
Monday's meeting wore green i
T-shirts with white lettering. On the <
ake personal front the message read, "Brunswick i
nal leave, they County Teachers Care." On the back ]
for their own was the message, "Our children's ]
future is in your (hands)." i
d policy, those The "hands" on the shirt are those ;
her hold cer- of Lincoln Primary School thirdan
approved grader Jodi Henry, who is in the class i
l reflects that of shirt designer Jean Case. Jodi's i
ecial workshop mother, Jane Henry, also teaches. 1
to serve as Jodi's hands first appeared on a <
lar schools. poster Lincoln teachers took to j
ist but not all Raleigh for "Heart Walk," a lobby- \
the other of the ing effort in February. j
So far 133 shirts have been 1
Iding Permit Policy
>sed going back Holden Beach officials first amend- i
ed the policy in an attempt to control i
board member density and discourage builders from '
submitting plans that show rooms . I
f listed as dens or sewing rooms which I
are later marketed, sold and used as 1
f Board members agree that a !
number of homes on the island have i
four or five bedrooms, but received <
septic tank permits for only three 1
After discussing the matter this i
bass week with county sanitarian Bruce '
under the old Withrow, Commissioner Buck sug- i
ifore making a gested that the town and county work
plans will be in- together to prevent further abuse of I
?, the town is the environment through septic :
e approaches. system failure due to overloading. A 1
[1 they want to procedure whereby county health i
tiswick County personnel would review house plans I
etime over the before the town issues a building per- I
j discuss coor- mit was proposed.
;nt efforts. Before a group of approximately 30
April 13, 1989 25c Per Cc
ge In Sales Tax I
said last week their respective town boards would probably
adopt resolutions or write formal letters to the
county board opposing the change. Bald Head Island
Town Manager Wallace Martin last week sent a letter
rvf nnnnoiUnn # ? ? IKa ?
v> uppuoniuii iu liic cuuiuy imniagLT.
Also, property owners associations at Holden
Beach and Ocean Isle are getting into the act.
The Ocean Isle Beach POA has mailed letters to
every property owner in town urging each to return a
form letter to the county commissioners requesting that
the board reconsider the change. About 1,800 letters
were sent out last week with a stamped envelope addressed
to the county board.
Holden Beach POA President Kenner Amos said
last week the organization also planned to take a stand
against the new county policy.
The change in distribution will result in a loss of apBY
DOUG
A Holden Beach
STAf-f PHOTO SUSAN USHtR tt. . u
il classrooms April 18 when county . , 'a .
individuals during
minute long publii
the tightly-packed
imately 85 conce
the atmosphere in
"Wf I IO ed calm and free c
Each of the doz
rsk perty owners whc
/ were against anne:
" from island reside
was split evenly i
distributed; more are on order and and opponents,
are available to anyone, not just A show of hands
teachers or students, Ms. Case said. sion of the hearii
In order to keep the issue before roughly 70 people
state legislators, Simmons said the tion and 15 favored
NCAE is coordinating a grassroots Mayor John Tar
effort to get representatives of a dif- ters from three
ferent school system each week to unable to attend th<
take their turn lobbying in Raleigh. they were against
Gov. Martin has tied proposed pay missioner Bob Bu
5 percent raises for teachers to from the Holden
statewide implementation of the Owners Associatio
Career Ladder Plan, which is design- members voted a)
ed to reward excellence in the and 16 voted in fav<
classroom with merit raises. But the annexation at th
NCAE, arguing that early ex- March 25 meeting,
perimentation shows the program Most of the m
doesn't work, instead sunnorts n,,. -!
1- t v/niibio aim OCVCld
scross-the-board slary increases. who spoke Monday
Simmons said the Martin plan content with the w
would require teachers and ad- and don't see a nee
Tiinistrators to give up their tenure Mainland opponf
aw, which provides a measure of
employment protection for teachers
end also provides a procedure by
which a teacher can be dismissed for '
my of 18 reasons, with documents- JjBjjs&fr
Reversed
residents, builders and real estate P^k., -n-,
representatives, Commissioner Bass
said this week that he misunderstood gn ' ^
low often the amended policy was
?oing to be implemented when he
/oted in favor of it last week. IgiSfjk
He said he was under the impression
that the policy was going to be
ised only sparingly?maybe once or
wice a year?in cases where a
juilder had written bedroom on a set
)t plans and later crossed it out and
.vrote den, office or some other use.
'I'm very concerned how we're usng
this policy," he said.
Inspector Carroll said Monday that
ic had issued two or three permits
iince the new policy was adopted and SnSKsl^*!^^
tad required one house plan to be
evised because a hallway door
eading to a bathroom was too close
.0 a room listed as an office. CAUSEWAY MEH
Bass said later that the new policy mainland property
(Sec HOLDEN, Page 2-A) Posal durlnS Mondl
Biting Early
i spots are back and so is the weekly
hing Report. For a look at the front
1 of the *89 season, check out Page
C.
>py 40 Pages, 3 Sections, Plus Insert
Distribution
proximately $50,000 per year at Ocean Isle Beach, while
Holden Beach stands to lose about $30,000 in annual
revenues.
"It just doesn't seem fair to me," said Holden
Beach Mayor John Tandy, adding that the town may
have to raise its property tax rate to recover the loss.
While he admitted that there is nothing wrong with
helping other municipalities, Tandy said the county
should have notified all of the towns before taking action
that had a direct impact on their revenues.
"I think they did it awful quick," he said. "They
should have taken a look at who was going to get hurt on
it."
Ocean Isle Mayor Betty Williamson agreed and
said she would have been at the commissioners'
meeting if she had known the matter was going to be
(See TAX, Page 2-A)
O ?L
si i Deutri
nsion Meets
land Opposition
RUTTER that the town has little to offer
proposal to annex besides sanitation service and that
the waterway met annexation would put a number of
ig opposition from property owners in a financial bind
f owners who at- because they cannot afford to pay the
hearing Monday additional taxes.
"You're not offering us what we
eard from about 25 need," said mainland property
! the hour and 15 owner Joe Smith. He said the
c hearing. Despite causeway needs sewer service and
crowd of approx- sidewalks?things the town does not
rned landowners, presently offer,
town hall remain- Also, a number of those opposed to
if tension. annexation from both sides of the
.en mainland pro- waterway said the town board of
? spoke said they commissioners already has enough
ication, while input trouble taking care of the island.
nts and lot owners Bill Williamson, a part-time resiimong
supporters dent of the area proposed for annexation,
drew applause when he said,
> near the conclu- "Before you help others, I think you
ig indicated that should help yourself."
opposed annexa- Town resident Rick Bryan spoke
1 the idea. along the same lines and questioned
idy also read let- why board members want the added
property owners responsibility that would come with
; hearing who said annexation.
annexation. Com- "We're not doing a relatively good
ick read a letter job here, and we want to extend this
Beach Property across the beach?" he asked. "Bign
stating that 31 ger is not better."
gainst annexation Responding to a concern of town ofjr
of some form of ficials interested in annexation, Jimle
organization's my Hobbs, whose family owns and
operates three businesses on the
ainland property causeway, predicted that county zonil
island residents ing would eventually help control
night said they're development in the unincorporated
ay things are now mainland area,
id for change. He opposed the annexation plan
;nts also stressed (See EXPANSION, Page 2-A)
_ .L k1r'a *\\t\-.ic(FOB
SI AM I'HOIO BY DOUG RUTUR
CHANT Cletis Cleramons was one of about a dozen
owners who opposed a Holdcn Beach annexation proly
night's public hearing.