In Training
BCC s incJustrial Training Center at
Leland is up and running, a one-of
a-kind cooperative venture
between industry and government
The story's on Page 12 B.
THier
On A Streak I i Knapp Makes Offer
Both the Trol-ins and L.iclv Trojans I
posted their fourth wins under the
hoop last week and are looking
sharp i he stories are on Pages 8-b
and 11 B. in the sports section.
Twenty-ninth Year, Number 6 ciwothebrunswickbeacon Shallotte, North Carolina, Wednesday, December 13,1990 25c Per Copy 36 Pages, 3 Sections, 1 Insert
Varnamtown
Meets At New
Town Hall
There won't be any cookies or
punch served, Hut the Yiirnsmtown
Board of Aldermen will hold its
I irst official meeting at the new
town hall Thursday, Dec. 20, at 7:30
p.m.
Gathering at the town hall will be
a change of pace for the town board,
which has held its monthly meetings
in two local churches since the com
munity incorporated just over two
years ago.
Town officials recently voted to
buy a home on Varnamtown Road,
which they plan to convcrt into a
town hall with a meeting room, con
ference room, office, two restrooms
and a kitchen.
Aldermen had hoped to tear
down several walls and have the
town hall spruced up in time for
their December meeting so they
could hold an open house for com
munity residents.
But Mayor Judy Galloway said
last week there is work to be done
that won't be finished until after the
holidays. "We might as well go
ahead and do it right while we're
doing it," she said.
Judge Fails
To Appear
BY TERRY POPE
The judge failed to appear in
Brunswick County Superior Court
Monday, utiiMiig a dciay in a spe
cial criminal session.
"I plead guilty," said Dallas Cam
eron Jr.. assistant director of the
N.C. Administrative Officc of the
Courts in Raleigh.
A mix-up in assignments meant a
special session of Superior Court
was halted. The District Attorney's
office was ready to begin prosecut
ing. The grand jury reported. Defen
dants and lawyers shuffled in and
out of the courtroom Monday wait
ing for the judge to appear.
They were later told to return
Tuesday.
Lynn Johnson, resident Superior
Court judge in Cumberland County,
was scheduled to appear in Bruns
wick County, said Cameron. Johnson
was assigned to replace Judge Dex
ter Brooks when a regular rotation of
judges was suspended in June.
"Apparently, he was not aware
that he was assigned there," Camer
on said. "Johnson was assigned for
months and months."
Judge Johnson had a civil session
in Faycttevillc Monday morning,
said Assistant District Attorney Na
poleon "Poli" Barefoot Jr. Barefoot
said he was as surprised as everyone
else when a judge failed to appear.
"We'll do it again tomorrow,"
Barefoot said. "We'll just be a day
late. 1 hope we're not a dollar short."
Cameron said Brunswick County
wasn't the only court lacking a
judge Monday morning. The mix
up also caused Cumberland County
to be short a Superior Court judge.
"It happens, in my opinion, rare
ly," Cameron said. "It's worse in a
place like that where you have one
superior courtroom. The lawyers arc
there, the jurors arc there and it
needs to happen."
Cameron said it was back to the
drawing board Monday to Figure out
how the mix-up occurred.
"It's cosily," Cameron said, "when
you have jurors coming in that don't
serve."
STAFF PHOTO BY OOUC RUTTER
Pelican's Perch
A pelican looks out over the Shallotte River Sunday afternoon from a wooden rail on the bow of
the Miss Angela, a shrimp boat docked at Shallotte Point.
Larger Post Office Under Way
To Serve Growing Supply Area
HY SUSAN USHER
Construction will begin soon on a new and consid
erably larger Supply Post Officc, which should be avail
able for occupancy by early fall 1991 at the latest, ac
cording to U.S. Postal Service officials.
The new post office will be located away, but not
far away, from busy U.S. 17, which is scheduled for
four-laning.
The facility will be built at the northeast comer of
the intersection of N.C. 211 and "old" U.S. 17, Blanton
Road, which runs behind Supply Baptist Church, said
Chester Hansen, a real estate specialist principal with
the U.S. Postal Service in Greensboro.
Norman Rachels, Supply postmaster for the past
four years, said the new location is well-suited to the
task. "It's a nice site for us. We don't have to be out
there on the busy four-lane and it should be safer (for
customers to reach)."
A rental contract was awarded Nov. 26 to Mrs. E.M.
Powell of Valdosta, Ga., who will build the new facility
and rent it to the U.S. Postal Service for $38,000 a year.
Jeffrey Seria, a senior real estate specialist, is manager
for the project, Hansen said.
It won't be the first time a post office has stood at
that corner.
Ethelyn Hawes, who served as Supply postmaster
from 1943 until her retirement in June 1972, said the
post officc was previously located on the family-owned
land from 1936 to about 1946, in two different build
ings. One of those structures still stands, but is to be
torn down to make way for the new project.
'Hie new facility will be 4,073 square feet in interior
size, substantially larger than present 1,400-squarc-fect
officc that was dedicated in 1975.
Plans also call for a separate storage area and a
large parking lot. Part of the tract, which is about about
two acres in size, cannoi be built on because of a
Department of Transportation easement and a septic
drainage field, said Hansen.
The Supply Post Office serves Supply, Holden
Bcach and Vamamtown. Its four full routes serve 2,574
families and 73 businesses and require 287 miles of
driving a day, according to Postmaster Rachels.
That's up from three full routes and one part-time
route, 221 miles and 2,446 families in January 1985.
The office has 388 post office boxes, of which 108
are "carousel" type boxes added in the past four years.
Only five or six boxes are unrcnted at this time, Rachels
said.
The office also operates a contract station at Holden
Bcach. Its routes cover an area that extends along U.S.
17 north to Grapevine Road and south to near Royal
Oak Road and the old Radio Shack store, and along
N.C. 211 cast to the Lockwood Folly River Bridge and
west, at present, as far as the Prospect community.
"We'd deliver farther up (N.C. 211) if there were
enough houses for delivery," said the postmaster.
Supply is located in Lockwood Folly Township,
which the Brunswick County Planning Department says
has been the second-fastest-growing township in the
stale's second-fastest growing county. For the period
1980 to 1988, said Planner Don Eggert, Lockwood Folly
Township saw the addition of 5,200 housing units, an in
crease of 70 percent. Only Shallolte Township, with
6,400 units and a 98 percent increase, experienced a
greater growth rate in Brunswick County.
Rachels can see that growth. "Every lime I go away
and comc back there's another road cut or a new mobile
home park being developed," he said. "And it's all to
ward the beaches."
With the four-laning of U.S. 17 scheduled, Rachels
expects the growth to only continue.
Seaside Neighbors
Carry Dog Dispute
, into District Court
-ri
BY TERRY POPE
Some residents of Seaside say
their neighborhood has gone to the
dogs, literally.
A man charged with shooting and
killing a neighbor's dog in Seaside
Station II was found guilty of cruel
ty to animals in Brunswick County
District Court Tuesday.
Jim Wilkcrson, 52, of Baybcrry
Street, says the neigborhood is still
overrun by stray dogs that come in
to his yard to attack and kill ducks
he raises. The dog Wilkerson shot
and killed Oct. 3 was a black male
Labrador retriever owned by Curric
Batchclor, also of Seaside Station II.
Balchclor took out warrants on
Oct. 8 charging Wilkcrson with cru
elty to animals.
Following more than an hour of
emotion-charged testimony Tues
day, Judge D. Jack Hooks Jr. gave
Wilkcrson a 29-day suspended sen
tence and ordered that he pay Bat
chclor S350 for Roscoc, die dog.
Judge Hooks also fined the defen
dant $250.
Assistant District Attorney Melo
dy Hayes called the shooting a
"needless killing". She said the
N.C. General Statutes do not allow
someone to kill another person's
dog, even if that dog is on someone
else's properly.
"The facts crc, he killed a dog,"
Ms. Hayes said. "He didn't have
permission to kill this dog. If this is
not a blatant violation of the stat
utes, then I don't know what is."
It was the second time within
weeks that the matter has entered the
courtroom. Last month, Wilkcrson
sued Batchclor in Brunswick Coun
ty District Civil Court for payment
of ducks he says have been killed on
his property by dogs. That case was
dismissed for lack of evidence.
According to Brunswick County
Animal Control Supervisor Zclma
Babson, she received a call from a
Seaside resident on Oct. 3 in refer
ence to a man running through the
neighborhood with a shotgun shoot
ing dogs.
When she arrived at the Wilkcr
son residence, she spotted the black
Labrador lying about six feet from a
pond in the back yard.
"The dog was dead," Ms. Babson
said. "There were no signs of feath
ers or dead ducks in his mouth. All
of the ducks appeared to be well
and fine."
"The facts are, he
killed a dog. He didn't
have permission to kill
this dog."
?Melody Hayes
Assistant D.A.
There is no leash law in effect in
the Seaside area, Batchclor testified
Tuesday. He said Wilkerson called
him once and came by his home on
another occasion to warn him about
the dog being in his yard.
Wilkerson, who represented him
self in court Tuesday, testified that
he has had 19 ducks within the past
year killed. He told Judge Hooks
that he used buckshot to kill Roscoc
and also described how on Oct. 3 he
injured, with smaller No. 8 shot, a
puppy that had been chasing ducks
in his yard. When the puppy started
smelling the dead Roscoc, Wilker
son said he shot the puppy in the
behind.
"As long as he (Roscoc) was lay
ing up there in Mr. Batchelor's yard,
he was a gentle animal," he said.
"But when he got vilh a pack of
dogs, he was a holy terror. Roscoc
would chase the ducks out of the
water so the other dogs could kill
them."
Wilkerson said he has owned a
dog for 14 years, that he is an ani
mal lover.
"I didn't want to shoot the dog,"
he added. "I'm just not going to let
them kill another duck. I feci like
the North Carolina animal control
laws say I was within my rights."
However, Ms. Hayes said there is
no evidence that Roscoc ever killed
a duck. She pointed out a property
owners' ordinance that prohibits the
keeping of horses, poultry and fowl
in the neighborhood. Wilkerson's
raising of ducks, she said, could be
interpreted as a violation of the
home owners' ordinance.
In her closing arguments, Ms.
Hayes said that Wilkerson's com
ment during testimony about shoot
ing the puppy "angered me to no
end."
Wilkerson had told Judge Hooks
that the puppy had "lost the taste of
a duck" after he was shot in the rear.
Wilkerson's wife, Martha, testi
(See DOG, Page 2-A)
Look For Holden Beach
Boating Carolers Sunday
A hearty crew of Christmas carolers plan to make their annual
rounds at Holden Beach by way of the water this Sunday.
For the sixth consecutive year, the carolers will be boating along the
canals and Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway at Holden Beach.
The following is a schedule of stops:
Harbor Acres: arrive 5:45 p.m., depart o p.m.
Heritage Harbor: arrive 6:20 p.m., depart 6:40 p.m.
Holden Beach Harbor arrive 6:55 p.m., depart 7:40 p.m.
Waterway u Holden Beach Bridge: arrive 8:1Q p.m? depart 8:25 p.m.
The best sites for viewing along the waterway are at the regional
parking lot under the bridge, Holden Beach Marina and Captain Pete's
Seafood.
The carolers will be on a sailboat this year and will be able to enter
only the main inlet at Harbor Acres and Heritage Harbor and the main
feeder canal at Holden Beach Harbor.
Regulators Won't Fine CP&L For Brunswick Plant Shutdown
HY SUSAN USHER
Carolina Power & Light Co. won't be fined by the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission for an August incident
in which mistakes by two operators led to automatic
shutdown of the plant, a notice from the NRC indicates
Utility spokesman Elizabeth Bean said last week that
CP&L has already completed steps it had outlined to
the regulatory agency last fall as its plan to keep such
an incident from occurring again. The utility's answer
to the NRC notice of violation will outline those steps
formally, she said.
In the Aug. 19 situation, which occurred at the Unit 2
reactor, two technicians were involved in a routine
monthly surveillance test of clcclrical circuits. Plant
procedures call for participation of two technicians
throughout the test, though nuclear regulations require
thai two persons conduct only a part of the test. The en
tire test on that dale was performed by only one techni
cian while the other was in another room.
The operator conducting the test made a mistake
which triggered a chain of events that caused the unit to
"scram" and subsequent automatic shutdown of the
plant. Then a series of nuclear steam system safety/re
lief valves failed to open when challenged following the
reaction shutdown and staff delayed in declaring an
"unusual event" at the plant as required by CP&L pro
cedures.
Afterwards, the two instrumentation and control
technicians lied about what had occurred. The first
technician skipped some steps in the testing but signed
off that they had been completed. The sccond techni
cian, who was not present during the lest, signed off
thai he had performed the required second-party inde
pendent verification.
"The seriousness of this event cannot be overstated,"
wrote Regional NRD Administrator Stewart N. Ebneger
in the Nov. 30 formal notice of violation. "A significant
series of inappropriate actions on die part of the techni
cian performing the test resulted in an unnecessary chal
lenge to plant safety systems and related equipment."
The regulatory agency also cited the plant for less
severe concerns: failure to follow procedures, failure to
make required notifications and various issues dealing
with inadequate procedures.
NRC officials, however, decided not to levy a civil
fine in the incident for several reasons, said Ebneger.
These included CP&L's investigative efforts and quick
corrective actions, as well as the NRC's position of en
couraging utilities to idenufy problems and correct
them on their own initiative.
CP&L fired the two employees who were involved.
And, as outlined at a conference at the NRC's Atlanta
office immediately following the incident. CP&L has
since taken steps to improve training and communica
tions at the plant.
"The staff (of the NRC) recognizes that much is be
ing done to address the specific problems," wrote
hbneger. "However, management should be come more
aggressively involved in correcting the pressing prob
lem of procedural compliance."
The NRC chidcd CP&L for apparent gaps in commu
nication and effective interaction among work groups
and lapses in standard operator protocol.
(See REGULATORS, Pa#* 2-A)