Newspapers / The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, … / June 7, 1990, 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
Gantt Dashes Easley's Hopes For Senate Seat BY SUSAN USHER Mike Easlcy's expectations of a November con frontation with U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms were dashed Tuesday, as North Carolina voters nominated their first black senatorial candidate in this century. With 94 percent of precincts reporting, former Charlotte mayor Harvey (iantt had 60 percent of the vote to Easley's 40 percent. Vote counts totaled 288,511 for Gantt to 191,430 for Easlcy, according to the Associated Press. At 9:15 p.m., campaign spokesman Hampton Sunset Fires Police Chief BY SUSAN USHER The Town of Sunset Beach has begun the search for a new chief of police, following the dismissal of Chief William Hill Monday night by unanimous vote of the Sunset Beach Town Council. Council members met behind closed doors with town attorney Mike Iscnberg for approximately 15 minutes before returning to open session for the vote. The action came after a business session at which the council decided to keep the same tax rate for 1990-91 and a public hearing at which no one spoke. Councilman Mary Kathcrinc Griffin arrived from a promotion exercise at Waccamaw School, where she teaches, in time for the executive session. Hill, who will be 54 on July 21, had served as chief of the depart ment since March 1, 1982. He pre viously was employed by the Holdcn Beach Police Department. As Sunset Beach police chief, he supervised four officers and earned an annual salary of $22,383, said Town Administrator Linda Flucgcl. Mrs. Flucgcl would give no indi cation regarding the reason for his (See SUNSET, Page 2-A) Dellinger said Easlcy had not conceded the election, but he added, "We're dealing with the harsh reality of a Gantt victory." While Gantt was a frontninncr in polls going into Tuesday's race, history had given the edge to Easley based on the outcome of similar run offs in the past Prior to the election, Easley predicted he could win with strong showings in the coastal and mountain areas while holding his own in the urban Piedmont ? show ings that did not materialize Tuesday. Easley, a Southport resident, led in Brunswick STAFF PHOTO BY DOUG RUTTfft Long May She Wove Six Army National Guardsmen ran an American flag through downtown ShaUotte Monday as part of a statewide campaign called Operation Patriotism. iMok for the story on page 12- A. County with about 55 pcrccnt of the ballots. He re ceived 2,558 votes to Gamt's 1,976 votes, according to the Brunswick County Board of Elections' unofficial results. His strongest showing was in the Oak Island 1 and II, Boiling Spring Lakes, Southport 1 and Secession II prccincts. Supervisor Lynda Britt said 28 percent, or 4,679, of the eligible Democrats turned out. Vole totals and the number of voters were off by 145 ballots, she said, re flecting the voting machines' response where "people marked ballots in crazy ways." Prccinct-by-prccincl results were as follows: Shinglctrce ? Easlcy, 112, Gantt, 108; Longwood ? Easlcy, 16, Ganu, 91; Ash ? Easlcy, 87, Gantt, 11; Frecland ? Easley, 45, Gantt, 67; Grisscttown ? Easley, 150, Gantt, 119; Frying Pan ? Easlcy, 156, Gantt, 153; Shailottc ? Easley, 108, Gantt, 110; Secession II ? Easlcy, 141, Gantt, 64; Secession I ? Easlcy, 128, Gantt, 157; Also, Supply ? Easley, 65, Gantt, 157; Mosquito ? Easley, 71, Gantt, 59; Oak Island (See GANTT, Page 10- A) County Rescinds Ordinance, Begins Accepting Old Tires BY BOB HORNE The Brunswick County Board of Commissioners took two steps Monday night in an effort to begin a positive move to allow Brunswick County to surface from beneath a sea of discarded tires it has found it self under. First, the commissioners unani mously approved a motion to re scind a county ordinance and allow tires to be dumped at the county landfill without being shredded. Then they unanimously passed another motion to allow David Clcgg, interim county manager and county attorney, and County En gineer Robert Tucker to search for alternative solutions to the county's tire problem, including searching for companies that haul discarded tires to tire-disposal sites. The landfill is now accepting un shredded tires and stacking them up pending Clegg's and Tucker's suc cess in coming up with an alterna tive method of dealing with them, Clegg said this morning. I Inder North Carolina Senate Bill (See COUNTY, Page 2-A) Public Hearing Set For Tonight On County Budget A public hearing on the 1990-91 Brunswick County budget is scheduled for tonight at 7 o'clock at the Public Assembly Building at the county government complex at Bolivia. The original budget presented to the Brunswick County Board of Commissioners by Interim County Manager David Clcgg was for $34,667,194 and included a 12-cent tax -rate increase, from 59 1/2 cents to 71 1/2 cents, as well as a 25 percent increase in building and electri cal permit fees and a 5-cent across-the-board increase in the water rate for usages more than the minimum 3,000 gallons, which would remain at $8.50. Since then, the commissioners have added $182,876, which amounts to about one-half ccnt of the tax rate, into the budget, but they haven't yet proposed increasing the tax rate further. The recommended budget now is $34,850,070 or almost SI. 9 mil lion more than the 1989-90 budget of $33,049,350. Clegg says the county also suffered a tax -base loss of more than SI.! million, because the state valued local utilities ? the largest of which is the CP&L Brunswick nuclear power plant ? at about 74 percent of their previous valuation. Therefore, the utilities will see their tax bills fall, because they will pay taxes on property that is valued at 26 percent less than its previous valuation. The budget includes S2.7 million in debt financing for capital pro jects and S600.000 for employee pay increases, reclassifications and new employees. TOURISM EXPENSE OPPOSED Holden Beach Commissioners Eyeing 4-Cent Tax-Rate Hike BY DOUG RUTTER Holden Beach residents had more lo say about spending $10,000 to promote tourism than a possible 4 cent increase in the tax rate at a public hearing Monday night. There were no direct objections to the proposed 29 percent increase in the Holden Beach tax rate during a hearing on the 1990-91 budget, which drew about 20 people to town hall. However, two residents objected lo the proposed contribution of SI 0,000 to a five-person committee that spends money on advertising and promotions to draw more visi tors to the South Brunswick Islands. Included in the proposed Holden Beach budget for next fiscal year is a $2,000 contribution to the South Brunswick Islands Chamber of Commerce and 510,000 for a sepa rate committee that promotes tour ism at the three local beaches. The commille, first started last year, is made up of one official from each of the towns ? Holden Beach, Ocean Isle Beach and Sun set Beach ? and two chamber of commerce representatives. Contri butions of SI 0,000 have been re quested from each town's occupan cy tax fund. Margaret Vasco, who heads up the Holden Beach Beatification Committee, said Monday she op poses the donation In the tourism committee. She expressed objection to the fact that 53,000 has been pro posed for the beautification com mittee next year compared to 510,000 for tourism promotion. Mrs. Vasco said beautification helps the entire island, while tour ism "benefits special-interest groups only." Property owner Mack Foster also questioned spending SI 0,000 to boost tourism, saying the real estate firms that benefit from rentals West Brunswick Seniors Look Ahead While Recalling Loss Of Classmate BY SUSAN USHER Commencement was a bittersweet moment Friday evening for many of the 181 graduates of West Bruns wick High School in Shallotte, as seniors looked ahead to an unknown future while recalling how their ranks had drawn closer following the death of a classmate 1 1/2 years ago. For the first lime in several years, audience mem bers assembled in the school courtyard could hear grad uation speakers clearly over a new public address sys tem presented by Valedictorian Sam Gus Stathos on be half of the Class of '90 "in exchange for the foundation laid in our education." Also speaking were senior class officers, Superin tendent of Schools John Kaufiiuld and Brunswick County Board of Education Chairman Dorothy Worth. Waiting on the walkway by the school for the cere mony to start, the seniors were enthusiastic and ner vous, calling to no one in particular, "It's 7 o'clock! It's lime to get started!" as dignitaries and faculty began their march into the courtyard. Later, with their diplomas firmly in hand, many of the class tossed their mortarboards into the air to cele brate before the recessional began. Salutatorian and senior class Secretary Becky King said she hoped graduation would be "one of the most cherished memories" of those present, with classmates recalling both their tears and their smiles. "We will take with us also the knowledge and expe rience this community has given us," she said. Class Vice President Sonya Bumcy told the class, teary-eyed through her smile, "It wasn't so bad," as she traced their four years together at West irom uic fum bling of "grecnie" freshmen struggling with locker combinations to dates and drivers' licenses as sopho mores, to the death of junior classmate Eric Shawn Ingram in a Sept. 5, 1988. auto accident. "We were not a close class," she recalled, "but with the death of one of our classmates we pulled together to show how much we cared." Suddenly they were seniors, with a prom and after prom party behind them and "left with not enough time to say goodbye." "So looking back, we realize it wasn't so bad after all," she said, her voice breaking with emotion. In closing, she quoted the theme song from the class's junior prom, "Give me one moment of time when I'm more than I ever thought I could be," and a poem popular with the class, "Friends Are Friends Forever." For her classmates, Treasurer Wendy Kinlaw pre sented plaques in memory of Ingram to his parents, Billy and Marjorie Ingram, thanking them for the care and understanding they've shown to the class. "We needed you tonight and you came and we Uiaiik you foi dial," she said. "He was well liked and could always make his friends smile." Eric's death pulled the class together with a re newed appreciation for life, she continued. "We want to live our lives to the fullest" and, should death come, "to be remembered with fondness and love like Eric." In her farewell, class President Lauren Sellars said she and fellow graduates "have grown together like flowers wailing to blossom," likening their schooling to fertilizer. "Wilh belief, determination and persistence, we will succeed," continued Miss Sellars. "We must have enough belief in ourselves to do the most we can to make the land we live on or in and the world we live in a better place because we are here." For parents uncertain of what to say to their young graduates, Superintendent Kaufhold offered the work of writer Carl Sandburg, Father Sees Son Leaving Child hood. Mrs. Worth urged the class to begin thinking ahead, and "to be yourself, to shoot for the stars" and to re member that "what you are is God's gift to you; what you make of yourself is your gift to God." Stathos and Miss King were presented the valedic torian and salutatorian awards by Assistant Principal Eugene Bowden. Other Honor graduates were I'ania (See WEST SENIORS, Page 2-A) should pay for promotions. "They're the ones making the prof it," he said. However Commissioner Boh Buck said absentee property owners gel the most benefit from tourism, because they rent their houses to tourists. Buck, who serves as Holden Beach's representative on the three island tourism committee, said, "There is no special-interest group that gets a piece of the pie." Commissioner Kcnner Amos said that, without occupancy tax rev enue, the town tax rate would be "much higher" than it is now. Town officials are proposing transferring more than SI 50,000 in occupancy tax revenue into the gen eral fund next fiscal year to help support the police and fire depart ments and pay for other services. Another 560,000 has been earmark ed for a dune replacement fund. Resident John F. Holden, a for mer mayor and rental agent, sup ported the proposed $10,000 ex pense. Without the tourists, he said, Holden Beach wouldn't have any occupancy tax revenue. Charles Pahl, who said he was representing the Holden Beach Har bor Property Owners Association, requested money in the budget for canal dredging. He said the town has the authority to pay for dredg ing and assess lot owners to recover the cost. There is no money in the pro posed budget for dredging, but the budget does include a tour-cent in crease in the tax rate. The increase would raise the tax rate from 14 cents to 18 cents per $100 of valua tion, costing the owner of a S 100,000 piece of property an extra S40 next year. Town officials said 1 cent of the tax rate increase is needed to bai lee HOLDEN, Page 2-A) STAFF PHOTO IY SUSAN USHf* BILLY AND MARJORIE INGRAM, whose son Eric Shawn would have graduated with the West Brunswick Class of '90, receive memorial plaques presented by class Treasurer Wendy Kinlaw. Eric Shawn Ingram was killed in a Sept. 5, 1988 auto accident.
The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
June 7, 1990, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75