Sunset Mayor Seeks Third Term, Three
File For Holden Beach Board
I?Y 1M)U<; R UTTER
Three Holden Beach residents
filed as town board candidates, and
Sunset Beach Mayor Mason
Barber filed for a third straight
term in the opening days of the
1991 municipal election filing peri
od.
Filing started last Friday and
ends Aug. 2 at noon, said
Brunswick County Elections
g Supervisor Lynda Britt. The S5 fil
ing fee can be paid at the board of
elections office in Bolivia or town
halls where forms are available.
Voters will elect 58 people this
fall to scats on 16 municipal boards
in Brunswick County. Five other
seats arc available on local hospital
iand sanitary district boards.
Holden Beach
Holden Beach Board of
Elections member Mabel Dutton
said ihrcc men had filed for scats
on ihe board of commissioners as
of Tuesday afternoon.
Sid Swarts, a military retiree
who recently served six years on
the town's planning and zoning
board, declared his candidacy
shorUy after filing opened last
Friday at noon.
David R. Sandifcr also is seek
ing election to the town commis
sion. He is the owner of Holdcn
Bcach Properties and Holdcn
Beach Rental Services and is a co
owner of Holdcn Beach
Construction Company.
James Shafor, who was appoint
ed to the planning and zoning
board as an alternate last year and
was named a regular member in
May, filed for town board Tuesday.
The Holdcn Bcach mayor's post
and all five scats on the board of
commissioners will be up for elec
tion in November.
Sunset Heath
At Sunset Beach, Barber is run
ning for his third, two-year term as
mayor. He was unopposed in 19X9,
and defeated Councilman Kdward
Gore Sr. in 1987.
Chcrri Check also has filed for
one of the two town council scats
up for election this year. She's in
volved in the organizing of a new
group. Friends and Neighbors of
Sunset Bcach Inc., that along with
supporting the town's Fourth of
July salute to the troops, also sup
ports state plans to replace the
community's pontoon bridge with
a high-rise span.
Calabash
Elsewhere in the South
Brunswick Islands, Jon B. Sanborn
has filed for re-election to the
Calabash Board of Commissioners.
Sanhom, administrative assistant
at The Brunswick Hospital, is run
ning from District II, where two
town board scats arc available.
Voters also will elect one board
member from District I this year.
Iceland
In northern Brunswick County,
three people filed for office
Monday in the Town of Lcland,
where voters will elect a mayor
and two town council members.
Councilwoman Jane Gilbert
filed for re-election. She said she is
running with the Rev. S.L. Doty Jr.,
who filed for mayor, and Thomas
D. Hyatt, who is seeking the other
available town council scat.
"Hopefully, we can get a littie
more responsive government up
here," Mrs. Gilbert said Monday.
Boiling Spring Lakes
Elsewhere, a commissioner at
Boiling Spring Lakes has filed for
mayor. Town board member
Steven Mark Stewart, who has two
years remaining on his term, filed
for the mayor's post now held by
H.C. Boswell.
Besides a mayor. Boiling Spring
Lakes voters will elect two com
missioners in November.
Southport
In Southport, William W.
Dclancy 11 has Hied for the board
of aldermen. He is running from
Ward II, where two town board
seats will be up for grabs. Voters
also will elect a mayor and one
town board member from Ward 1.
Long Beach
Bobbie H. Larrison filed for
commissioner at Long Bcach,
where voters will elect a mayor
and three town board members.
Sandy Creek
In Sandy Creek, Louis A. Blouir
filed for one of ihe two town coun
cil seats to be filed this year. Blouir
made an unsuccessful bid for clec
uon in 1989.
Elsewhere
As of Tuesday afternoon, Ms.
Bntt said no candidates had filed in
the towns of Shallottc,
Varnamtown, Bolivia, Yaupon
Beach, Caswell Beach, Belville or
Navassa.
Ocean Isle Beach Town Clerk
Daisy Ivcy also said nobody had
filed as of Tuesday. Voters there
will c'cct a mayor and three com
missioners.
Nobody had filed for the avail
able scats on the Dosher Hospital
Board of Trustees and the
Southeast Brunswick Sanitary
District Board, Ms. Britl said.
THE BRU vn^ BEACON
Twenty-ninth Year, Number 36 C 1 99 1 THf BRUNSWICK BEACON Shallotte, North Carolina, Thursday, July 11, 1991 25C Per Copy 36 Pages, 3 Sections, 1 Insert
Angry Health Board
Strikes Back At
Deep Budget Cuts
BY TERRY POPE
If push comcs lo shove, scplic
lank permitting will take a back seal
lo other inspections conducted by
the Brunswick County Health Dc
parunent.
The health board voted last \vcck
to make restaurant, lodging and
swimming pool inspections of top
priority for its environmental health
specialists.
The unanimous vote came fol
lowing the board's heated attack on
county commissioners, who on June
17 unexpectedly cut a full-time su
pervisor's slot from the 1991-92
health department budget and shift
ed the county's soil scientist to a
post in the engineering department.
Chairman Bill Rabon said the
health department needs to stay on
top of its restaurant and swimming
pool inspections to keep from
breaking both the law and the pub
lic's trust.
"Let's not do an overall poor
job," said Rabon. "If we're going to
do a poor job., let's isolate where
that job is going to be."
Three health specialists responsi
ble for restaurant and pool inspec
tions will not be pulled from their
jobs to cover the vacancies.
"We're at 100 percent at those in
spections now, and I'd like for us to
stay there," said Rabon.
At least one employee will have
extra duties as a result of the per
sonnel cuts. The department has re
defined ilic job uf Bruce Whitlow,
environmental health program spe
cialist since joining the department
in 1985.
Policy amendments will also
change the appeals process for fail
ed site evaluations. Grievances were
previously taken to Gary McDon
ald, environmental health supervi
sor I, for a second opinion.
However, McDonald was fired by
county commissioners, and county
soil scientist Walter Marley wr
transferred to a post in the engineer
ing department. While not a health
department employee, Marley
worked closely with its environ
mental health unit.
Board members criticized com
missioners lor making the personnel
cuts without first consulting the
board or Health Director Michael
Rhodes.
"1 feel that if my input is worth
that little," said board member Bill
Phillips, "then why am 1 serving?"
Rabon said the department was
dealt another blow when commis
sioners took an anticipated S103.720
from increased fees and gave it to
the solid waste department.
"That money was earmarked by
the board for use in the environ
mental health," said Rabon. 'They
accepted our proposal, but they cut
the car off and put another car on."
The new fee scalc will raise site
inspections for septic lank permits
by S15 for single-family homes.
The department will also start char
ging individuals S30 to obtain the
actual permit.
Health officials had planned to
purchase new vehicles with the ex
tra money.
Commissioners have turned "a
user fee into an abuser fee," added
Rabon.
"There's no sense in it whatsoev
er," said Phillips.
DKa/)ac oolrl firlnn
A \UtyVIVO kM LUU iUVt^UIMtlU O A 4 ft til ^
was a shock to him. He said the de
partment tried to convince commis
sioners that loss of the positions
would "devastate"' the environmen
tal health program.
"We had to go through a little bit
of anger, but now we have to move
forward and try to do the best we can
with the staff we have," said Rhodes.
(See ANGRY, Page 1-A)
STAFF PHOTO BY OOUG RJTTEI
Go A head, Make Our Day
Benjamin (left) and Michael Powell of Ocean Isle Beach drove this miniature Jeep last Thursday in a
small Fourth of July parade on Scotland Street. The Powell boys, ages two and three respectively,
stopped just long enough to do their Clint Eastwood impressions. The story and more photos are in
side.
Ash Teen
Gets Life
In Prison
BY TKRRY POPK
An Ash icon was sentenced lo
life in prison Monday after pleading
guilty to second-degree murder in
the March shooting death of his
brother.
Harold Allen Graham, 18, was al
so given a three-year sentence on an
assault charge for shooting a 14
year-old boy in the leg last October.
Graham's family wept during tes
timony at his sentencing hearing be
fore Judge B. Craig Ellis on Mon
day.
'This is a very, very tragic case,"
said defense attorney Shelia Mc
Lamb of Shalloue. "They've had to
go through the funeral of one son
and now the criminal proceedings
of another son."
Graham was charged by Bruns
wick County Sheriff's Detective
Gary Shay with the March 30
shooting death of Lacy Frankie
Graham, 28, which occurred one
day befce Graham turned 18.
The victim died the following
day at New Hanover Regional Med
ical Center in Wilmington. After the
shooting, Graham hid in the woods
for a week before he returned to his
(S?e ASH, Page 2-A)
Holden Beach To Start Water Safety Program
BY DOUG RUTTER
Holder. Bcsch. officisls p!nn to hire !ife~
guards and designate guarded swimming areas
in the near future as pari of a new water safety
program prompted by the drowning of a vaca
tioner last week.
Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday
to begin the lifeguard program immediately and
possibly follow through later with the purchase
of a surf boat and other life-saving equipment.
Mayor John Tandy called for the develop
. v.-.. . va ....... - -'j.Ui-i'i. ?>> .....di*
ment of a safety program in a memo lo the
t_r>wn hoard and interim town manager written
prior to a special meeting Tuesday moming.
"I never had so many calls on one thing in
my life," Tandy said of last Thursday's drown
ing of a 12-year-old boy. "It ruined the Fourth
of July for our island. There's no doubt about
it."
Holdcn Bcach Commissioners, who are
known for discussing issues at length before
acting, indicated this week that they don't want
uRsnradeK
to waste time getting the safety program start
ed.
Tandy asked Commissioner Judy Bryan to
work with Interim Town Manager Gus Ulrich
and Keith Sawyer, an officer with Tri-Beach
Volunteer Fire Department who was involved
in the search last week.
"If you guys can get it started tomorrow, go
ahead and do it," Tandy told the committee.
In his memorandum, Tandy recommended
(See WATER, Page 2-A)
STAFF PHOTO ?r DOUG RUTTE?
A MARINE HELICOPTER from Camp l^ejeune searches for a drowning victim off Holden Reach
last Thursday as three visitors watch from the strand.
LOGAN: BEACHES NEED WARNING SYSTEM
Boy Drowns In Holden Beach Surf
BY DOUG RUTTER
In the wake of a drowning last
week ai Holdcn Bcach, Brunswick
County Emergency Management Co
ordinator Cecil Logan said local
beaches need a way to warn the pub
lic about dangerous ocean conditions.
A 12-year-old boy visiting the
beach with his grandparents drown
ed in rough seas after a wave
knocked him off a raft around noon
last Thursday.
Logan said the body was found
about 19 hours later, more than five
miles east of where the boy was
playing.
"The conditions were extremely
terrible yesterday," Logan said the
day after the drowning. "It was not
a day for anybody to be in the
ocean ? not just playing around."
Jaremas Barnes of Knightdalc was
playing in the ocean on a float with
his cousin and foster brother when a
wave knocked them into the water.
The cousin and foster brother
came up out of the water, but
Barnes did not surface. They were
swimming near the house where the
family was staying for the week in
the 1(XX) block of Ocean Boulevard
West.
Holdcn Batch Police, Coastline
Volunteer Rescue Squad and Tri
Beach Volunteer Fire Department re
sponded immediately and searched
for the boy from the strand all day.
As word of the drowning spread
down the beach, looks of concern
replaced smiles on the faces of va
cationers. Many picked up
binoculars and helped search for the
boy.
Two Coast Guard boats and a
Marine helicopter from Camp Le
jeune arrived several hours after the
search had started. An airplane from
the Brunswick County Sheriff's De
partment also assisted.
Coastline VRS President Kath
leen Jacobs said the occan was too
rough for the rescue squad's boat.
Brunswick County's surf boat was
launched but taken out of the water
after it flipped.
Logan s^id two people with life
jackets waded into the occan but
couldn't keep their balance. If the
sea hadn't been so rough, Logan
said rescuers could have formed a
human chain where the boy went
under.
"We exhausted everything we
could get our hands on," Logan
said. "I don't really know of much
more or anything more we could
have done."
Rescue squad members stayed on
the beach until 10:30 p.m. Thursday
and the Coast Guard searched all
night. Logan said the search from
land resumed Friday around 5:40
a.m.
The boy's body was spotted in
the surf near the east end of the is
land shortly after 7 a.m. Logan said
a Holden Beach police officer and
Coastline VRS member waded into
the ocean to get the body.
Rescuers said a strong undercur
rent probably contributed to the
drowning. "I think the undertow
carried him straight to the bottom,"
Logan said. "He was probably in
one of those troughs out there."
Logan speculated that the body
broke free from the undercurrent
and started drifting cast following a
thunderstorm Thursday night. The
ocean calmed down after the storm.
Logan said the county beaches
need a system to warn people when
the ocean is too rough for swim
ming. Most vacationers think about
the fun of riding waves, he said, but
don't consider the potential danger.
Some beach communities use red
flags to let people know about po
tential danger. Yellow flags indicate
that people should be cautious, and
green flags mean the ocean is rela
(See WARNING, Page 2-A)