)> Brunswick Living HOME SHOW Supplement Inside This Issue <(
THE L .CK^BEACOIM
Twenty-ninth Year, Number 20 ?It* THE BWUNSVWCK BCAOON Shallotte, North Carolina, Thursday, March 21, 1991 25< Per Copy 48 Pages, 4 Sections Including Supplment, 2 Inserts
Man Indicted As Investigation
Of Double Murder Continues
BY TERRY POPE
A Brunswick County Grand Jury
Monday indicted a Wilmington man
on two charges of murder in con
nection with the shooting of a
Bolivia couple at their home early
Sunday.
Erwin Lange Malpass, 20, of the
Remington community on U.S. 421
in Wilmington, turned himself in to
the New Hanover County Sheriff's
Department approximately two
hours after the shooting of the
Bolivia couple.
As of Tuesday evening he re
mained in the Brunswick County
Jail without bond.
Malpass has been charged in the
murder of William Carl Willets and
his wife, Vanessa Louise Maggard
Willets, of Danford Road, Bolivia,
said Brunswick County Chief of
Detectives Phil Perry.
The indictments do not specify a
charge of first-degree or second-de
gree murder against the suspcct
They state that Malpass "unlawful
ly, willfully and feloniously and of
malice aforethought did kill and
murder" the victims.
Perry said the sheriff's depart
ment received a call at approximate
ly 2:30 a.m. regarding a shooting on
Danford Road.
"When the first officer arrived on
the scenc, she found two bodies,"
he said. Ms. Willets' body was
found lying in the yard while the
body of her husband was inside the
house, on ihc living room floor.
Both victims, in their 30s, had
been shot with a shotgun.
Perry said the Willets couple had
been living in Bolivia about a year
and was not believed to be related
to any Willctts in Bolivia who spell
their last name with two t's.
Warrants were filed Sunday
against Malpass by Sheriff's De
tective Billy Hughes. The warrants
list as a witness to the shooting,
Amy WiHets, 2 daughter of the de
ceased.
Detectives refused to release oth
er details of the case pending fur
ther investigation.
STA/P PHOTO BY SUSAN USH?*
Spring At Last!
Brisk spring winds didn't chill three-year-old Gabriella Guerra a bit last week as she vacationed with
family members at Ocean Isle Beach. The I^eamington, Ontario, family was enjoying the Canadian
school holiday. "It's a beautiful place you have here ? so peaceful," noted Gabriella's father, Enrique,
as the two built sand castles on the strand. More visitors are expected on local beaches for the long
Easter weekend.
SNLMCCAMAWRIVER
es Suit To Stop Project
BY DOUG RUTTER
The state has filed a lawsuit in an attempt to stop
development activity at a subdivision on the Wacca
maw River whose owners have been accused of vio
lating environmental protection rules.
The N.C. DepaniiiCU of Environment, Health and
Natural Resources asserts in the civil suit that Wacca
maw Landing Plantation, Inc., has violated the
Sedimentation Pollution Control Act of 1973 at
Rivcrgatc Estates.
The development covering more than 100 acres is
located off N.C. 904 next to the N.C. Wildlife Re
sources Commission boat ramp at the Columbus
County line. Jimmy Gore and Dale Gore are develop
ing the site.
The state is asking the court to issue a preliminary
injunction ordering the development company to halt
all land-disturbing activity at the site, according to
the lawsuit filed March 12 in Brunswick County
Superior Court.
North Carolina officials also want the court to re
quire the developers to establish and maintain sedi
mentation and erosion control devices within 10 days
of when the injunction is issued.
Also, the state asks in the lawsuit that the develop
ers be required to install measures that are reasonably
necessary to prevent erosion and sediment from leav
ing the subdivision site.
The state claims that the first violations of the
Sedimentation Pollution Control Act were noticed
Aug. 29, 1990. More violations were discovered dur
ing site inspections in September, October and
November.
Waccamaw Landing Plantation, Inc., received
three notices of violation from the state by certified
mail between September and November, according to
the lawsuit.
Initial violations were failing to submit an erosion
and sedimentation control plan to the state at least 30
days prior to starting land-disturbing activity and fail
ing to install* measures thai would control erosion or
retain sediment on the site.
State officials found an additional violation during
a site inspection Sept. 26. The lawsuits claims the de
velopment had graded slopes and fills that were too
steep to retain vegetative cover.
Environmental personnel found during an Oct. 18
inspection that the site had not been brought into
compliance and discovered three more violations, ac
cording to the lawsuit.
The state found that the company had failed to in
stall sufficient measures to retain sediment on site,
failed to creatc an adequate buffer zone between the
Waccamaw River and lots along the east bank of the
river and had created unprotected exposed slopes.
Four more violations were discovered during a site
inspection Nov. 14, when state officials found severe
off-site sedimentation had occurred. The state claims
the river had been damaged where sediment-laden
water had been intentionally pumped from a nearby
pond into the river because the developers had failed
to install sufficient measures to retain sediment on the
site.
The stale personnel also found that the developers
had failed to provide an adequate buffer zone be
tween the site and the river, and in at least one area,
soil had been pushed directly into the river.
The lawsuit also says erosion had occurred on the
side slopes in the lake excavation and in the street
side ditches in several areas. The state claims that the
developers failed to maintain graded slopes and fills
at an angle that can be retained by vegetative cover or
other adequate erosion-control devices or structures.
Also in the civil suit, the state claims there was
erosion in several areas because the company did not
provide vegetative ground cover on graded slopes in
lakes, swales and ditches.
(See STATE, Page 2-A)
No Smoking Debate Heats
Up County Commissioners
BY TERRY POPF.
All or nothing.
Brunswick County Commissioner Gene Pinkcrton
said he is willing to vote for a total ban on smoking at
the county government complex in Bolivia. He also
said he wouldn't mind just letting everyone smoke.
Is is a policy that would prohibit some persons from
smoking but allows others to smoke that Pinkerton says
would be unfair.
A proposed policy that would allow such a combina
tion was tabled by commissioners Monday night.
"I'm trying my best to quit," Pinkerton said. "But
I'm also toying to look at what's fair to everybody."
County Manager David Clegg presented a proposed
no smoking policy Monday that would restrict smoking
in certain areas of the government complex. When the
board appeared deadlocked on whether it wanted the
entire complex to go smoke-free or to allow smoking
only in certain areas, the matter was tabled by a 4-1
vote, with Commissioner Frankic Rabon dissenting.
In February, Commissioner Jerry Jones asked for a
no smoking policy after he said employees and the pub
lic contacted him asking that the county adopt one. A
ban on smoking is especially needed in the waiting area
of the Brunswick County Courthouse, he said.
Under the policy presented Monday, smoking would
be banned in the courthouse with the exception of the
judges' chambers. The ban on smoking would affect the
public assembly building, excluding 20 percent of the
serving tables during its use as a county-operated cafe
teria.
After 5 p.m. the ban would be effect in the building
at all times, with one exclusion: the nights the building
is being used as a center for election returns.
Other areas placed under the ban would be the
Brunswick County Health Department's patient care
area and the Department of Social Services waiting
room.
Meeting rooms of any board, commission or commit
tee to which the county commissioners appoint mem
bers would be off limits to smoking on the complex
grounds.
The policy defines smoking as inhaling, exhaling,
burning or carrying any lighted cigar, cigarette or other
combustible tobacco product.
Pinkerton said he believed it wouid be unfair for
judges to be allowed to smoke in their chambers while
the public would not be allowed to smoke inside build
ings.
"I would vote for the non-smoking pan of that," said
Pinkerton.
Rabon, who has recendy quit smoking, said he
couldn't vote for the policy bccause he considered it
unfair. Employees would be allowed to smoke in build
ings but county residents would not, he said.
'The people footing the bill would not be allowed to
smoke in the buildings," Rabon said. "I don't think
(See NO SMOKING, Page 2-A)
Different Trio Named To Calabash Board
Brunswick County Commission
ers Monday appointed three mem
bers to the Calabash Planning and
Zoning Board, but not the three men
who had been recommended by the
town and were serving on the board.
The new appointees named to
represent the extraterritorial area
(ETA) are Phil Marlow, Anthony
Clemmons and Louise Lewis.
The town regulates land use in the
ETA, which extends about one mile
from the town limits in all direc
tions, but residents of the area do not
pay town taxes and cannot vote in
town elections. They are entitled to
representation on the planning board
on all matters related to the ETA.
District 2 Commissioner Jerry
Jones nominated the new planning
board members, who were appoint
ed on a unanimous vote.
Calabash Commissioners ? belat
edly ? had recommended the ap
pointment of Robert Crocker,
William Rate and Willie Bellamy.
The appointment of ETA repre
sentatives to the town planning
board created a controversy last
month when it was learned that
Crocker, Rate and Bellamy had nev
er been legally appointed to the
board on which they now serve.
Calabash officials had unofficial
ly appointed the three men last year,
but the county board never ap
proved the appointments.
State law gives county commis
sioners the right to appoint ETA res
idents to planning boards in towns
that exercise their right to extraterri
torial jurisdiction.
Jones said he nominated Marlow,
Clemmons and Mrs. Lewis because
each of them told him that they
wanted to serve on the planning
board, which advises the town com
missioners.
"These people had made it
known that they would like to serve,
and people in that area asked me to
consider them," Jones said. "I'm
sure the ones nominated by Cala
bash would have done a good job
too. It's just one of those things."
Although the town's selection of
Crocker, Rate and Bellamy was nev
er approved at the county level, N.C.
Attorney General Lacy Thomburg
stated in a recent letter to the town
that zoning ordinances adopted dur
ing their tenure on the board are
valid and enforceable in the ETA.
County Wants Outer
Loop Route To Bypass Its Industrial Park
BY TERRY POPE
County officials have endorsed a newer route for the
proposed Northern Outer Loop, a route that skirts north
of the Leland Industrial Park.
An updated N.C. Department of Transportation map
of proposed routes is included in this month's newslet
ter by Greincr, Inc. of Raleigh, the consulting engineer
ing firm hired by the state to conduct an environmental
impact study on the Wilmington bypass project.
The bypass would route traffic off of Interstate 40
south near Castle Haync and tie in to U.S. 17 in the
vicinity of Bishop in norths"' Rpwick County, hp es
timated 14-mile route.
The latest map shows a proposed route that was not
included in previous maps, a route that would swing the
four-laned bypass north of the Leland DuPont plant and
west of the industrial park through Malmo.
It is a route that county officials like because it would
not disrupt development plans for the industrial park at
Malmo.
"The county has got significant development in the
Leland Industrial Park and we don't want that cut in
half," said County Manager David Clegg.
An earlier plan included in the Brunswick County
Major Thoroughfare Plan adopted by DOT Feb. 2,
1988, and endorsed by county officials, would route the
bypass north of Navassa and through the industrial
park.
Clegg said the county would agree to the February
1988 original route as an alternative.
Earlier this year, the Brunswick County Resources
Development Commission adopted a resolution endors
ing that original route after Greiner Inc. reported it also
plans to study a proposal that would include a corridor
from !-40 to U.S. 421. That route would require im
provements to existing U.S. 421 south to the U.S. 17
74-76 interchange in Belville and continue with im
provements to U.S. 17 southward into Brunswick
County.
It is a route the South Brunswick Island Chamber of
Commerce has recendy endorsed by letter to the engi
neering firm as a "suggested plan for immediate relief."
Chamber President Annette Odom and Executive
Vice President Susanne Sartelle have requested that a
short term plan be adopted to widen N.C. 210 to U.S.
421 and to route traffic through Brunswick County
along U.S. 17.
"We believe that this bypass route will have the least
adverse affect on the environment and will be the least
expensive, given the options," their letter states.
Since only about 13 miles of N.C. 210 would require
widening, it would also be completed in the least
amount of time, the chamber letter notes.
"We do agree that environmental studies should be
done and that the best route should be determined for
the long term solution," the letter continues. "However,
given the present traffic congestion problems around
Wilmington, we strongly encouiage you to consider and
adopt our suggested plan for immediate relief."
Directing travelers to Brunswick County's beaches is
(See BYPASS, Page 2-A)
TOOSSi Mm
&
SWff PHOTO ?Y TIUY fOf*
LELAND RESIDENT Joy Cranidiotis reviews the proposed bypass study area at a public workshop
held in November. A second workshop is scheduled in Wilmington next Wednesday.