THE!
Twenty-eighth Year, Number 38 ?'?? the brunswckbeacon Shallotte, North Carolina, Thursday, August 9,1990 25c Per Copy 34 Pages, 3 Sections
Lawmen Investigating
Sim/inn Of Bo'"v'ri Mnn
?W ? ? ? J ? ? ? ? BMP' ? ? T ? ? ? ? -
Brunswick Counly and state authorities continued a
homicide investigation Tuesday night after 3 Bolivia
man was found shot to death in his residence early
Tuesday.
Durwood Belmont Johnson, 4l), was found dead in
his home off Green Lewis Road near Bolivia at 9:20
a.m. Tuesday, said Det. Gary Shay of the Brunswick
Counly Sheriff's Department.
Brunswick County Assistant Coroner Cleo
McCranie said Johnson died of a single gunshot wound
to the hack. An autopsy was scheduled for Wednesday
at the Onslow County Memorial Hospital in
Jacksonville, he said.
Shay said Johnson was found dead in .a bed in the
living room of his mobile home, located off Midway
Road south of Bolivia.
McCranic said Johnson was found by his brother
in-law. He said he wasn't sure when Johnson had been
killed or how long he had been dead when he was
found at the residence.
It is believed the victim lived alone. Shay said.
Johnson was last seen alive Sunday near his residence,
according to a preliminary investigation, according to
Shay.
The Sheriff's Department is investigating the case
with the assistance of the State Bureau of Investigation,
Shay said.
Anyone with information on Johnson's whereabouts
Monday or other facts that could help the investigation
is urged to contact the Brunswick County Sheriff's
Department at 1 800-672-6379, Shay said.
'DIRECTORY' SIGNS PROPOSED
Sunset Bans Off-Premises Sians
BY SUSAN USI1KR
Action by Sunset Bcach Town
Council Monday night closcd gaps
in the town's sign ordinance that
had Sunset Bcach Planning Board
members concerned about potential
billboard blight.
After a series of public hearings
on five proposed ordinances, the
council voted uanimously for A1
Odom's motion to adopt an ordi
nance outlining types ol signs that
will no longer be allowed within the
town or its extraterritorial planning
area unless specifically indicated.
Hie ban includes signs with
Hashing lights, animation or ob
scenities, that obstruct motorists' vi
sion or look like official highway
signs, arc located on objccts not in
tended to support signs, such as
trees or light poles, or that arc locat
ed in a salt marsh or other saltwater
tidal area.
While swinging signs such as
"For Sale" realty signs arc no
longer allowed. Realtor Nancy
Smith was assured by Planning
Board members that the board
would look again at that prohibi
tion. Swinging signs were banned
because they pose a potential dan
ger in high winds, Planning Board
Chairman Richard Good explained.
However, Ms. Smith said most
firms remove swinging real estate
signs in advance of siorms to pro
tect their investment and to protect
lives and property.
Town Council members couldn't
vote Monday on a proposed solu
tion to the need by tourists for di
rectional signs around town, be
cause the item was not among those
advertised in advance of the hear
ing.
At the Sept. 10 council meeting,
members and the public will consid
er a proposal to allow off-premises
informational and directional signs
to be posted at sites designated by
the town. Businesses and non-com
mcrcial projects would be allow
(See SUNSET, Page 2-A)
W TOOK WHOA ?ASM
STAFF PHOTOS BY BOB HORNE
77/? CHARRED REMAINS of Charlie Cleary's J-3 Piper Super Cub lay crumpled in the grass about 75 to 100 yards from the run
way (in distance) last Thursday, after Cleary and Magnus Hertilsson died in the crash at Brunswick County Airport.
Friends Had To Deal With Plane Death
Of Charlie Cleary, Magnus Bertilsson
HY HOB IIORNK
One of Charlie Cieary's close
friends watched him fly lo his
dcalh last Thursday, while another
close friend had to supervise extin
guishment of the fire that burned
the bodies of Clcary and Magnus
Bertilsson.
Geary's J-3 Piper Super Cub
crashed at the Brunswick County
Airport at Southport about 10:30
a.m. Saturday, approximately 5-7
minutes after he took off to take
Bertilsson for a ride, according to
Al Whitney.
Whitney, who says he was one
uf Cicaiy's close fii&id, was one of
"two or three" people who went
out to watch Clcary, a 54-year-old
retired Piedmont Airlines pilot,
give Bertilsson, a 27-year-old re
cently graduated certified llight in
structor, a ride in his plane, which
reportedly was designed for aero
batics.
What Whiuiey watched was
Geary perform some acrobatic ma
neuvers, such as loops, rolls and
intentional spins, maneuvers in
which the aircraft dives toward
earth in a spinning motion, and
then spin to his and Bertilsson's
deaths.
An autopsy revealed that both
men were killed by the impact, not
the ensuing fire, according to coun
ty Coroner Greg While.
When the plane, which was
spinning straight down, nearcd the
ground, it seemed to break the spin
and begin to level out just before it
struck the ground, Whitney said. It
burst into (lames immediately, he
said.
"It looked like he was about to
recover and just ran out of alu
J
A J-3 PIPER SUPER CUR, similar to the one Charlie Clean
and Magnus Rertilsson died in last Thursday at Brunswick
County Airport. The painting hangs in the office of airport
Manager AI Whitney.
lude," Whitney said. "Being a pi
lot, I could tell he was in trouble."
Cleary did not issue a distress call
on the radio, Whitney said. "I'm
*ure he was busy doing everything
he could to recover."
Although Whitney said Cleary
appeared to run out of altitude, he
also guessed that Cleary began per
forming the aerobatic maneuvers at
an altitude of about 3,(XX) feet,
"which is plenty high enough for
such maneuvers."
The plane hit the ground near
the end of Runway 5, about 75 to
I(X) yards off the runway. Both
men were burned.
Al Esscy, fire chicf at Yaupon
Beach, is an employee at CP&L's
Brunswick nuclear plant and was
taking part in a drill when he was
notified that there was a crash at
Brunswick County Airj)ori.
lie left the plant and went
straight to the airport, only to learn
thai one of the victims was his
good friend, Cleary. "His wife is at
my house right now," Essey said
nearly three hours after the acci
dent "Our wives are real close "
Essey said Cleary performed
such acrobatic maneuvers "very of
ten." He also said he has flown
several times with Cleary, who he
said retired from Piedmont "just a
year ago" when Piedmont merged
with US Air and described him as
"very confident, very careful and
very secure in his Hying."
Cleary had just overhauled the
engine of his plane and had the
FAA-required annual inspection
just a few weeks before the crash,
Fssey said "He spent a loi of lime
at the airport," Essey said.
Cleary, who lived at Long
Beach, was in the proccss of build
ing a home at Winston-Salem,
where he and his family planned to
move, Essey said.
Bcrtilsson, 27, was a native of
Sweden who recently received his
flight instructor rating at an inter
national school in Conway, S.C.
He was hired by Airport
Enterprises, the fixed base operator
at the airport, two or three weeks
before the crash, Whitney said. It
| was his first job as a (light instruc
| tor, Whitney said. Bertilsson was
i in the process of moving to the
1 area when the crash occurred, ac
[ cording to Whitney, who said
I' Cleary also was certified as a flight
instructor.
If Cleary had recovered from the
spin near the ground, he would
have had a wooded area about 100
yards in front of him that he would
have had to clear.
The J-3 Piper Super Cub is an
aircraft with one high wing and
canvas covering or "skin" and
weighs "maybe 1,000 pounds," and
has "I believe a 150-horscpowcr
engine," Whitney said. It has tan
dem seating, in which one of the
seats is in fiont of the other.
The crash was the third at the
air|x>rt in the past five years, Esscy
said. The other two planes went
down in die marsh area beyond the
end of the runway and there were
no injuries in either one, he said.
Preston Micks, chief of the
Atlanta field office for the National
Transportation Safety Board, ac
knowledged Monday afternoon
(hat NTSR and 1-AA investigators
were at the airport Thursday and
Friday to conduct the "field por
lion" of the investigation of the
crash. Me said it normally takes
about nine months to complete
such; n investigation.
staff photo by bob mobne
Peek-A-Boo
The sun casts a thin glow of dancing light across the waterway
and patched colors of brilliance across the sky late Thursday, as
it tries to peek out from behind the clouds after the day's rains,
just before calling it a day entirely.
Brunswick
Schools Plan
I mnrnv/omontc
? i ? i jv i vy tuiiivi ? ? v>
BY SUSAN USHER
StudcnLs and faculty at Shalloltc
Niiddic Scikx)I will "team up" this
year for success, while students at
Waccamaw Elementary School will
have more opportunities to bccome
computer literate.
These arc just a few of the im
provements local principals say
Brunswick County students can ex
pect when the 1990-91 school year
begins less than two weeks from
now on Aug. 20.
For teachers, the school year be
gins even earlier, on Aug. 13, with
some reporting even earlier for spe
cial workshops or training opportu
nities.
In interviews earlier this week,
the principals of Union Primary,
Waccamaw Elementary, West
Brunswick High, Bolivia Ele
mentary and Shallottc Middle
schools briefly discussed their plans
for the year.
Shalloltc Middle School Principal
Mark Owens said Monday that the
teaming approach his staff will im
plement this year is similar in con
cept to the system now in placc at
South Brunswick Middle School,
"but 10 times better than what
they're doing."
The school's classroom and re
source teachers and approximately
1,100 students will be divided into
two teams at each grade level, with
four teachers and 115 to 120 stu
dents per team. Students will still be
assigned to students in traditional
classroom settings.
As part of a team, tcachcrs will
pool Ihcir resources, interests, ex
pertise and knowledge of students,
(See SCHOOLS, Page 3-A)
Costly Solution Offered
To WBHS's Problem
HY DOUG RUTTER
Shallotlc officials have offered
lo bail out the Brunswick County
Board of Education by providing
sewer service to West Brunswick
! !i?h
But the county sclux)l board
would have to pay Shallotlc
SI21,(XX) for sewer service and
come up with an estimated S60,(XX)
to extend sewer lines to the high
school located west of Shallotlc.
West Brunswick High School
has a sewage treatment system that
discharges treated effluent into a
stream behind the school. However,
the aging system docs not meet re
quirements set in its discharge per
mit and must be improved or aban
doned.
The sewage system must com
ply with the conditions of the per
mit by Dec. 15, 1991 under a con
sent order adopted last month by the
N.C. Environmental Management
Commission. If not, the county
school board could be fined $4,000.
Acting on a long-standing re
quest for sewer service at the high
school, Shallotlc aldermen voted at
their meeting last Wednesday to
submit a proposal to the school
board and "put the ball in their
court," as Slnllottc Mayor Jerry
Jones said.
The county board would have to
pay the town a S 106,000 acreage
fee, $15,000 capital reserve fee and
pay all of the cost of hooking on to
the town system. The acreage fee is
based on 53 acres at the high school
and S2,(XX) pci acrc. The capital re
serve fee is based on estimated us
age of 5,(XX) gallons of wastewater
per day and S3 per gaiion.
Brunswick County Schools
Assistant Superintendent Bill
Turner, when told of the proposal
last week, said he probably would
recommend that the school board
turn down Shaliottc's offer.
Il would cost about S70,(XX) to
build an all new wastc-trcatmcnt
system at the high school, he said,
similar to ones recently constructed
at North and South Brunswick high
schools.
In discussion at last week's
Shallottc meeting, some town board
members said they were worried
dial serving the high school would
put the town in a bad position. They
said il would take away sewage
treatment capacity that could other
wise be used for commercial devel
opment in town.
"I don't think their sewage
problem belongs to the town of
Shallottc," said Mayor Pro Tern
Paul Wayne Reeves. "We've got
enough sewage problems of our
own."
Alderman Sarah Tripp asked,
"Why would il be our problem and
not the county's problem?"
But town officials later agreed
to serve the high school if the coun
ly school board is willing to pay
S121,(XX) in fees. The money would
be set aside in a special fund and
used to expand the town's sewage
treatment capacity in the future.
Alderman Wilton Harrelson said
he didn't oppose serving the high
school, as long as the town collects
enough fees to offset any costs. The
taxpayers of Shallottc shouldn't
have to pay any more to help the
school than the taxpayers of Supply.
Ash and Ocean Isle Beach, whose
children also use the school, he
.xiiu.
Besides the upfront fees, die
school system also would have to
pay sewer rates that are twice as
much as what customers inside the
town pay. The school already pays
about S8(X) per month for water ser
vice. Town officios estimate the
school would p?v atx-dt S650 per
month for sewer sc. .icc.
Lawsuit Seeks Dissolution
Of Bellamy Trading Company
IIY BOB IIOKNK her "rciiremcni" as vice president of
A family squabble has been RTC.
transmitted 10 the courtroom, with In the suit, Mrs. Gibson claims
Eloise Bellamy Gibson suing her she was illegally dismissed from
brother William Farl Bellamy Jr. any active participation in BTC,
and the Bellamy Trading Company, which she was managing, and
Inc. William Earl Bellamy Jr. took over
Mrs. Gibson asks that the court management so he would be in a
enter a decree dissolving Bellamy better position to see that his son
Trading Co., which the suit states is Greg would get a share ol the BTC
worth millions ol dollars, that she real estate business and to cventual
be paid the fair value of her shares ly let Greg lake over management
and that she be paid her salary equal of the BTC office when William
to S9,(XX) annually from the dale of LAWSUIT, Page 2-A)