Twenty-ninth Year, Number 35 Most Government Offices To Close For July Fourth With one exception, government offices and financial institutions in the South Brunswick Islands area will be closed for the Independence Day holiday on July 4, as will some area businesses. The Town of Ocean Isle Beach is the exception. Its town hall wili be open July 4 from X a.m. to 5 p.m. for the convenience of visitors and non-resident property owners. Town halls at Calabash, Sunset Beach, Holden Beach, Shallotte and Bolivia will be closed Thursday, its will the Brunswick County Government Center in Bolivia and other county and state offices. The Brunswick Beacon office will be among local businesses closed Thursday. For the July 1 1 issue, advertising and news deadlines will be at their regular times. cmuH.iwiww.ww Shallotte, No ? ? ? ? $1.2 MILLION GOES TO SOLID WASTE Commissioners Split Over Final Budget ^ STAFF PHOTO BY TERRV POP f ()MMISS!()\'F.Rs VOTE 3-2 to adopt the 1991-92 county budget. Hoard members are, from left, Frankie Rabon, Donald Shaw, Kelly H olden, Jerry Jones and Gene Pinkerton. BY TKRRY POPE A divided Brunswick Cou> y Board of Commissioners listened to a divided audicncc Friday before adopting a 1991-92 county budget, 3-2. The final version slices more than SI. 2 trillion away from a number of dcpi jnents to pay for solid waste disposal. As of Friday, House Bill 86, which would allow the county to charge an improved parcel fee for cach lot that contains a dwelling or establishment had not cleared the final h'.irrtle in ihr siato r,%-> ?(: "n?(* fees would financc the county's sul id waste deparunent. The S35 million budget is contin gent upon HB 86 failing, said Vice Chairman Jerry Jones. However, if the bill should pass, a number of budget amendments would be adopt ed to return the SI. 2 million to de partments that faced the ax Friday morning. Jones' motion transfers to the sol id waste department an anticipated S400.000 in state reimbursements along with the following amounts: 5225,000 from capital reserves; SI 53, (XX) in builgci reductions from the June 17 meeting; S250,(X)0 in fire and rescue district allocations; $54,696 to cut six months in fund ing for six new Emergency Medical Services positions; $14,(XX) from" the general lund; S16,(XK) for an en gineering department vchicic; S2.300 from governing body and $103,720 from health department fee increases also adopted by the board Friday. The motion transfers SI, 2 18,7 16 to solid waste. Commissioners Jones, Kelly Hol rjrn ; District 3 Commissioner Gene Pinkcrton's motion to return the S25(),(HK) passed 4-0. Commissioner Donald Shaw was out sick, said County Manager David Clcgg. The vote came just minutes after Brunswick County Fire and Rescue Associa tion President Al Nori of Civic town told the board that de partments could not afford to lose the money thisAP,SCf,ysCa5 NORD About 25 lire and rescue personnel from various county departments crowded into the commissioners' chambers for Monday's meeting. The money will come from the county's operating budget, noted Clcgg, who said the vote was a sur prise to him. Counties o|>eraic for six months of the year on a fund balance, a fig ure that fluctuates, said Clcgg, until taxes are collected. Each of the five county fire and rescue districts annually receive S50,00() to be placed in a contingen cy lund to be shared by departments in that district. "c: ? _i.. ?Ua.. uvvuu^v/ uiv jr up|nv/['i iui cd the money doesn't mean it will be spent," said Clcgg. "It's not like the fire and rcscuc departments can spend it at leisure." Purchases must be recommended to a commissioner in the disu icl for approval. Pinkcrton said some fire and rcs cuc departments arc operating on tight budgets. The S250.000 taken Friday was part of SI. 2 million transferred to the solid waste department. The move was made in case House Bill 86, which would allow the county to cliargc an improved parcel fee to help fund solid waste disposal, is not approved. Clcgg expected the state Senate to vote on HB 86 Tuesday aftcr (See FIRE, Page 2-A) DA's Office Not Probing Board's Personnel Cuts BY TERRY POPE District Attorney Rex Gore says he will not investigate accusations of discrimination by the Brunswick County Board of Commissioners based on the information he has re ceived. "Unless something major turns up in alfadavits, there's nothing for the DA's office to probe," said Gore on Friday. Brunswick County Democratic Party Chairman Crawford M. Hart of Boiling Spring Lakes accused commissioners last week of making cuts in county personnel for racial and political reasons. Hart held a press conference to call for a criminal investigation of the board members that voted to cut several county workers from the payroll while trimming the 1991-92 county budget. The controversy stems from cuts made June 17 when the board voted 3-2 to eliminate the position of clerk to the board, held by Regina Alexander for 17 years, and to reas sign those duties to the county man ager's administrative assistant, Kel ly Barefoot. Ms. Alexander is black and Ms. Barefoot is white. Two other contro versial cuts involve white Demo naLv Fcdily Vereen, former chair man of the board of commissioners and assistant director of operation services; and Gary McDonald, envi ronmental health supervisor I with the Brunswick County Health De partment. Hart has also contacted State At torney General Lacy Thornburg's officc to ask for an investigation. Commissioners Kelly Holden, Donald Shaw and Jerry Jones voted for the cuts, but they have denied (See PROBE, Page 2-A) BURIED SINCE WORLD WAR II Visitor Uncovers Airplane Wing On Ocean Isle Beach Strand BY doik; r utter An old airplane wing uncovered on the Ocean Isle Beach slrand last week is believed to be the remains of an American military plane that crash landed during World War 11. A visitor from Asheboro uncov ered part of the wing while digging in the sand last Tuesday, but it was covered back up when the tide came in. The wing is located below the high tide line toward the cast end of the island. Herman Love of Shallotte, who was stationed at Ocean Isle Beach with the U.S. ' Coast Guard j wp \k during World y War II, said he B thinks the wing V -3 found last week a - , * ? is from a P-47 ' fighter plane jr that landed on the bcach in w 1944. LOVE ..] was rigjll there when it went down," he said. "There's possibly some more of it around there closc." Ocean Isle Mayor Belly William son said the town wouldn't put a backhoc on the strand and try to re move the wing at least until after the Fourth of July holiday, when the island's population is expected to lop 20, (XX). "You really don't need to go out digging the strand with so many tourists on the strand," she said. "That has been there, it appears, for many years so there is no immedi ate danger." The mayor also said water de partment employees, who would operate ihe backhoc. will likely be very busy during the holiday week. Love, a former Brunswick Coun ty commissioner and retired Bruns wick County Scnools employee, said a P 47 Thunderbolt was forced to crash land on the strand in early l')44 due to high oil pressure. No body was injured, he said. The pilot was involved in target practice training at Ocean Isle Beach and safely landed the plane near the high tide line. When the "His shovel hit something that he knew wc.s different than sand. That got his curiosity up and he kept digging." ? Donna Menius Ocean Isle visitor tide tame buck in, ihc plane was partially covered with sand. Love said the Army Air Corps re moved some of the equipment from the plane including bomb sights, ra dios and the nose of the propeller. Because the plane was damaged by salt water, however, the Army left it in the sand. Love said the mil itary tried to blow up part of the plane that wasn't buried. Ocean Isle Beach Police Chief Curt Pritchard, who saw the wing after the tide started covering it back up last Tuesday, said it was "well-preserved." He said he's not sure if any other parts of the plane are buried in the same location. The visiior who found ii uncovered a 15-fool stretch of thc