A Nice Catch
Gilbert Campbell's 11-pound, 12-ounce
flounder sets a new record for the Shallotte
Point VFD Flounder Tournament. 10-B
THE BRl
Insurance Changes Eyed
Congress Is looking at changes in Flood
insurance Program rules that could affect
thousands of county property owners. 12-A
HOA6 & SONS BOOK BINDERY
PO
12/31/99
BOX 162
-?F'R I NGPOR T M i 4 9284
Surfing Safari
Three young surfers are California-bound to
compete in the National Scholastic Surfing
Association championship. 7-B
Twenty-ninth Year, Number 32
.V ?
TMf 6t*m?WCK MACON
Shollotte, North Carolina, Thursday, June 13, 1991
25< Per Copy
38 Pages, 3 Sections, 1 Insert
Bill Calls
For Voters To
Set Terms
For Two
County Boards
BY SUSAN USHKR
Should House Bill 586 pass, Brunswick
County voters would decide this fall
whether county commissioners and school
board members should
serve two-year or four
year terms of office.
"I'm not dodging the
responsibility of making
a decision, but letting
people have a voice in \ ^
how their county will be
run," Rep. E. David
Red wine said this week.
"That's part of my job." RKnwiNF
Redwine said he de- k^wwinis.
cided to seek the referendum after getting
"mixed signals" from county voters on the
issue.
"I don't mind making decisions," he said.
"I research issues and generally get a feel
one way or another how people feel.
"This is the first to come to me with
mixed feelings all over the landscape."
While some people he talked with had
definite opinions about which term is best,
just as many did not. Most, he said, saw
nothing wrong with putting it to a vote.
Both the Democratic and Republican
conventions addressed the question, with
Democrats supporting two-year terms and
Republicans, four-year terms.
Mllll? 41
"Both sides were putting pressure on me
to do what they wanted done," said
Rcdwine. "I decided I would like to hear
what the other 25,000 voters who didn't go
to one of the conventions had to say."
Presently Republicans hold all five seats
on the Brunswick County Board of
Commissioners, while Democrats hold four
of five seats on the Brunswick County
Board of Education.
Neither board has taken an official stance
on the bill.
However, Redwine said he has heard
from the commissioners "and their friends"
in opposition to two-year terms.
Comments he's received in talking to in
? 1
In I
dividual school board members have been
mixed, he said, just as their views on the
subject were during last fall's election.
While GOP conventioneers raised the
question of partisan politics, Redwine, a
Democrat, said he is trying to avoid parti
sanship by taking the issue 1) to a vote and
2) timing the vote to take place during the
off-year election.
"I don't want it to become a campaign
issue," he said. "I just thought they ought to
settle the issue of terms first, then talk is
sues such as the future of Brunswick
County during the campaign."
He said the issue of terms should be de
cidcd on the basis of which is best
Arguments advanced on behalf of a two
year term include greater responsiveness of
elected officials to voters, while proponents
of staggered, four-year terms cite continuity
of leadership. Opponents of two-year terms
argue that having to campaign every two
years is cosdy.
Should the bill pass, the referendum will
be held by the Brunswick County Board of
Election Nov. 5 in conjunction with munici
pal elections. Should voters approve two
year terms, all five seats on each board
would be up for election in November
1992. Filing for the May primaries would
begin in January 1991.
Hi ?
?*T I
- m
STAFF PHOTO BY OOUO RUTTER
A Family Affair
This miniature sand city ? complete with public restrooms, a cemetery and Gothic cathedral ? was a three-day project for the Rich and
Bondurant families, who came from the Charlotte area last week to Ocean Isle Beach. Pictured (from left) are Carol Hinson, Tina
Bondurant, Teri Bondurant, Kreig Bell, Jason Bondurant, Benjamin Herr, Rick Herr, Terri Herr, Marcia Phaneuf, Butch Phaneuf and
Doug Bondurant. The group has been vacationing at Ocean Isle for the past four years.
HEALTH BOARD HEARS PLAN
Food Workers Targeted For AIDS Testing
BY TERRY POPE
Brunswick County Health Board
member HJ. "Skip" Davis wants
local restaurant employees to be
tested for AIDS.
Davis' plan would require every
person who prepares or serves food,
whether in restaurants, school cafe
terias or nursing homes, to obtain a
health card and be tested for tuber
culosis, syphilis and the HIV virus,
which is associated with Acquired
Immune Deficiency Syndrome
(AIDS).
The proposal was unveiled at a
health board meeting Monday night,
but members took no action on it
To become county policy, the
board would have to adopt a local
ordinance requiring that food service
employees obtain a health card, said -
Health Director Michael Rhodes.
Health departments once required
that food workers obtain cards and
be tested for tuberculosis, but that
practice ended in 1972 with the de
cline of the disease, said John Crow
der, environmental health supervisor.
The program would show that the
"department of health is doing
something for the citizens of this
county to curtail the disease fac
tors," said Davis.
"I'm worried that someone might
have AIDS that's serving me food,"
said Davis, a chiropractor with an
office at Ocean Isle.
However, details of the proposal
remain sketchy, said Rhodes.
Leading researchers agree that
AIDS is transmitted in only two
ways, by exposure to infected blood
or to infected semen. Experts say
AIDS cannot be transmitted through
casual contact There remains no
cure for the deadly disease.
Davis said he has discussed the
idea with local restaurant employers.
"I did not receive any negative
comments," he said. "All of them
favored the idea."
He estimates there are over 700
workers who handle food in Bruns
wick County who would be requir
ed to obiain health cards if the plan
is approved.
One argument against the testing,
Davis said, was that someone who
tested negative today could test pos
itive tomorrow for any of the three
diseases. Those testing positive
would be isolated and follow treat
ment outlined by the health depart
ment.
"It would do me a world of good
to walk into a restaurant, whether
they're positive or negative, to
know someone is trying to curtail
this disease epidemic," said Davis.
Tuberculosis is a highly conta
gious disease that affects the lungs.
Syphilis is a sexually-transmitted
disease that can be treated with an
tibiotics, but if left untreated it can
affect the brain, heart, pregnancies
or even be fatal.
Tests for tuberculosis costs the
county $1 and syphilis tests $3. HIV
(See FOOD, Page 2-A)
ONE PERSON CHARGED
Air Search Spots Marijuana Plants
BY TERRY POPE
Marijuana plants valued at $48,000 were found at
nine locations in Brunswick County during a search
by air last week.
One person was charged with possession of a mari
juana plant and with possession of drug parapherna lia.
Connie Sharpe Heweu, 36, of Route 1 , King, was
charged after officers found one marijuana plant
growing at a home near Supply where she was stay
ing, said Ll David Crocker of the Brunswick County
Sheriff's Department
She was later released from the Brunswick County
Jail under her own recognizance after signing a state
ment to appear in District Court, said Crocker.
The aerial search was a joint effort of the sheriff's
department, the Civil Air Patrol and SB1 officers. The
Civil Air Patrol supplied a pilot and spotters to help
locate plants from the air.
Sheriff's Detective Doug Todd was the primary
spotter, leading ground crews to at least 30 marijuana
plants in the county's first marijuana eradication pro
ject of the season.
The plants ranged from seedlings up to 18 inches
and were found in plots all across the county, said
Crocker.
"You can tell by the size of the plants that they're
(growers) getting a late start this year," said Crocker.
Regardless of size, each plant is valued as a ma
ture plant, or worth SI, 600 each, by the SBI. Each
mature plant is capable of producing a pound of mari
juana valued at $1,600, Crocker said.
During the air search Friday, officers also stum
bled upon a 1982 Ford Econoline maintenance van
that had been reported stolen from Craven County.
The van was registered to Craven County's main
tenance division, according to a report filed by Bruns
wick County Sheriff's Lt. Ronald Hewett.
Valued at $5,000, the van was parked in a heavily
wooded area off Shell Point Road (RPR 1132), Hew
ett said.
It is not known how long the van had been parked
at Shell Point.
The Brunswick County Sheriff's Department
gives cash rewards to persons who call with informa
tion that can help officers find marijuana plants, said
Crocker.
Sunset Council Hears
Support For Two
Proposed Annexations
BY SUSAN USHER
Sunset Beach Council members
are expected to vote next week for
annexation of two areas lying with
in the town's extraterritorial area,
following a hearing Monday at
which affected property owners
voiced no objections.
The council meets Friday, June
21, at 2:30 p,m. for a hearing on the
1991-92 budget, a vote on the annex
ations and other items of business.
Councilman A1 Odom will be ab
sent, helf"~t? celebrate his parents'
50th wed4'nl* anniversary, he said.
A hanc^yi of residents of Sugar
Sands an$ byster Bay Colony sub
divisions Spoke at a public hearing
Monday night in favor of the annex
ation, with the only objections
raised by an island resident.
The annexations would be first
by Sunset Beach that were not initi
ated by the residents of the commu
nities involved, a so-called "invol
untary" annexation.
Cletus Waldmiller, chairman of
the Sunset Beach Taxpayers
Association, and Councilman Ed
Gore spoke passionately on the an
nexations, taking opposite sides.
Waldmiller asked the council not
to annex the areas because the ac
tion would "forever change the na
ture of Sunset Beach."
"No longer would Sunset Beach
be a beach town, but rather a town
with a beach," he contended, mak
ing it unique among barrier island
communities along the North
Carolina coast.
He suggested that political con
trol would lie in the hands of main
landers, people who live away from
the beach and might not share the
same concerns for "the environment
and lifestyle."
Waldmiller said he thought that
sometime in the future the change
would open the way for "ambitious
and greedy developers to turn our
bit of paradise into another Myrtle
Beach..."
However, A1 Consalvi, a Sugar
Sands resident, saw it differently,
asking earlier, "Is there no down
side to this?"
He suggested Waldmiller was
overlooking another
possibility ? that the make-up of is
land residents could change as well.
"It wouldn't take many people to
vote in or vote out the things you
care about.. .You don't have enough
people to stop it," Consalvi said.
Speaking in support of annex
ation, one woman said she thought
she had moved to Sunset Beach, on
ly to find out later her home was in
"LaLa Land" (the extraterritorial
area outside the town limits) in
stead.
"We like the town; we like the
way it is and we want to be a part of
it," she said.
Other speakers noted that their
living on the mainland doesn't pre
clude concern for the island beach
and its best interests.
Welcoming the new areas in ad
vance, Councilman Ed Gore said
the annexations were helping fulfill
a dream shared by him and his fa
ther "that we will have a whole
community."
The Gores have developed much
of Sunset Beach and the surround
ing area.
"You can only make it better," he
said. "We need not be afraid of
change...I look forward to a com
munity less biased and more willing
to work in harmony than we have
(See ANNEXATION, Page 2-A)
Calabash Eyeing
Healthy Tax Cut
BY DOUG RUTTER
Calabash residents and merchants
could see a healthy cut in their tax
bills next year if commissioners
adopt a 5431,047 budget presented
at a public hearing last week.
Town officials are considering
slashing the tax rate from IS cents
to eight cents per 5100 of property.
That would be a reduction of 47
percent ? saving the owner of a
S75.000 home about S52 in taxes.
But the tax rate might not drop so
drastically if commissioners accept
the recommendations of Mayor Pro
Tem George Anderson, who sug
gested adding $36,500 in expenses
to the budget at Tuesday night's
town meeting.
Anderson, a member of the town
Finance committee, suggested add
ing $20,000 to the administration
fund Tuesday to cover a possible
lawsuit. The budget already includ
ed $20,000 to pay the town attorney
for his services.
Anderson, who is chairman of the
board of adjustment, said last week
that the owners of a business out
side the town have threatened to sue
the town if a sign variance isn't
granted.
"I don't know if they will win the
suit, but if they do win we have to
be prepared," Anderson said at the
budget hearing last Wednesday.
He also proposed adding $10,500
for mowing the large drainage
ditches, $5,000 for reimburse elect
ed officials for their travel and tele
phone expenses and $1,000 for the
Calabash Merchants Association.
The suggestions appeared to take
other town board members by sur
prise Tuesday night. They gave no
indication whether they favored or
disapproved of Anderson's propos
als.
If all of the expenses are incorpo
rated into the budget, it would push
the tax rate up at least four cents un
less another source of revenue was
discovered.
With the town board proposing to
slash the tax rate, the Calabash fire
station was virtually empty last
Wednesday when fewer than 20
people attended the hearing on the
new budget.
In contrast, more than 100 people
turned out for the budget hearing
last year when town officials pre
sented the first budget since the
merger of the old Town of Calabash
and Carolina Shores.
"Hopefully, the sparse crowd
means we're doing something
(See CALABASH, Page 2-A) ?