a STAFF PHOTO BY DOUG RUTTER FOUR RIVERVIEW RETREAT Apartments were destroyed by fire Saturday night in Calabash. At least Jive others were damaged by smoke and water, a fireman reported. ARSON SUSPECTED Calabash Apartment Fire Sends Residents Fleeing BY TERRY POPE A fire lhat sent residents fleeing from their apartments in Calabash Saturday night is believed to have been deliberately set. Quick action by a passerby and a nearby home owner, who noticed smoke and Names shooting through a roof, helped a number or residents escape uninjured An arsonist may have set lire to the Kivervicw Retreat Apartments on Rivcrview Drive around 9:30 p.m., reported Brunswick County Sheriff's Deputy George Stanley. As of Monday, no estimate on the damage was available. At least four apartments were destroyed and others received extensive smoke or water dam | age, said Lt. Dale Snow of the Calabash Volunteer Fire Department. All of the damaged apartments were being rent ed, said Snow. The owner of the apartment building lives in Virginia, he said. IThc passerby, Ernie Leonard, was on his way home when he noticed smoke coming from the west end of the building, said Stanley. He was joined in the lifesaving efforts by Robert Green of Southern Pines, a Calabash property own er who owns a home adjacent to the apartments. Green was down for the weekend. Leonard lives on a boat called Peggy Ann that was docked on the Calabash River. He jumped from his car and began waking people inside their up stairs apartments so they could escape, said Stanley. "Some were in their beds asleep," said Snow, the first firefighter to arrive on the scene at around 9:35 p.m. "If it hadn't been for him (Leonard), there might have been some injuries, or deaths." Calabash resident Waban Thomas said Green should be honored by the lown for his heroic efforts. "He really did a big thing there," said Thomas. "He saved those people's lives." Snow said flames were already coming through the roof of the building when he arrived. The fire is belie ved to have been set near a washer and dryer or storage area downstairs the site of repeated vandal ism in the past, reported Stanley. Leonard and Green first ran upstairs to help cvacuatc the building and then helped people leave their downstairs apartments before firefighters from live departments arrival. Calabash, Sunset Beach, Grissettown-Long wood, Shallottc and Little River fire departments responded and battled the fire for three hours, said Snow. "Everybody did a super job," said Snow, 'They contained the fire the best that they could, under the circumstances." One resident told deputies that vandals have constantly damaged the washer and dryer near a downstairs storage area to steal coins inside. Another resident said someone kept taking the hose off the washer and had once hot-wired the dryer. The landlord would repair the damage, then more would occur, she said. On Friday night, residents said, someone drove by the building and fired a couple of gunshots, Stanley reported. No one was injured. Sheriff's detectives and Brunswick County Fire Marshal Cecil Logan are investigating the fire. Logan was out of town this week attending a water rescue class and was not available for com ment. Minor Changes Are Expected After New County Electoral Lines Drawn BY TERRY POPK Brunswick County's five elec toral districts must undergo changcs again. District lines must be redrawn be fore the end of the year to reflect the county's population growth since the 1980 U.S. Census, but county officials are predicting only minor changcs. "I'd like to see it done by the middle of October," said County Manager David Clegg. "1 don't see any reason why it could not be done by that point." The Brunswick County Planning Department will use 1990 U.S. Census figures to determine new district boundaries. The current district lines were es tablished by the Brunswick County Board of Commissioners in August 1983. Local legislation adopted in 1981 requires that commissioners redivide the county into five elec toral districts as nearly as equal in population as possible every 10 years. The districts are the same for both commissioners and the Bruns wick County Board of Education, with five members ? one from each district ? elected to each of the two boards. While candidates run from and represent the district in which they reside, ihcy arc elected by vot ers counlywidc. Clegg said he believes Brunswick County's permanent population growth has also been countywide during the past decade. Non permanent residents, those who own summer homes on the coast, do not figure into the redisricting plan. "I think statistically you're going to see pretty even growth patterns," he said, '"[here is no electoral dis trict in which there has not been population growth." Final Census data arrived last month to get the ball rolling toward redistricting, he said. Those figures show the county grew in population by 43 percent between 1980 and 1990. Following the November 1990 election, the Brunswick County black community called for its own electoral district. Clegg said black leaders have not approached him on the subject. "Brunswick County has histori cally clcctcd black candidates and female candidates," said Clegg. The county is not among the esti mated 40 in North Carolina that have been designated as Voting Rights Act counties, where special districts or procedures arc in place to help give blacks a political voice. According to U.S. Census fig ures, Brunswick County's black population grew by only 1 1 percent between 1980 and 1990, from 8,287 to 9,211 persons. A black district would skip across the county to pick up pockets of the black popula tion. To rcdistrict, the county will fol low House Bill 685, which was rati fied in July 1981. That bill also changed the number of districts from six to five and contains lan guage that docs not apply to the county today, said Clcgg. That's why Clegg had hoped a new local bill, one he submitted on behalf of the commissioners, would replace the 1981 version, to "clean up" the language, he said. Clegg's bill passed the House, but when the General Assembly ad journed last month it was still pend ing before the Senate local govern ment committee. The bill calls for commissioners to redcline the boundaries of elec toral districts by Dec. 1, 1991, and every 10 years thereafter "so that the population of cach district is nearly equal as practicable," it stales. It would establish the same dis tricts for the Board of Education. Board members who no longer reside in his or her district as a re sult of the new lines would be al lowed to serve the remainder of their term, it states. The Census data the planning de partment will work with in redraw ing the lines arc ccnsus block tracts that were also used by the state in redrawing House and Senate dis tricts. The population in each district will increase from around 7,2(X) each in 1981 to around 10.2(H) each in 1991. Brief descriptions of current dis tricts arc as follows: ?District 1 ? Waccamaw and Shallotte townships, minus Shal loue and Shallotte Point; ?District 2 ? Shallotte Point, Shallotte, Holden Beach area and Supply; ?District 3 ? Smithvillc Town ship, including Sunset Harbor up to Lockwood Folly River on N.C. 211; ?District 4? Town Creek Town ship, plus south and west to N.C. 211, easterly to part of N.C. 87 and U.S. 74-76 to the Columbus County line; ?District 5 ? Northwest Town ship, Leland and Woodburn area to Olde Towne and south to Goodman Road. Former Shallotte Mayor Challenging Sarah Tripp BY DOUG RUTTKR Former Shallottc Mayor Bcamon Hcwctl is challenging incumbcnt Mayor Sarah Tripp in her bid for election in November. He is one of four people to file for officc this past week at Shallottc Town Hall. Four candidates also have filed for scats on the Ocean Isle Beach Board of Commissioners | since last week. Brunswick County Elections Supervisor Lynda Britt said candi dates have until noon Friday to file at town halls or at the elections board office in Bolivia. The filing fee is 55. As of Tuesday, candidates were still needed in several Brunswick County towns, including Calabash, Sunset Beach and Holdcn Beach. Hcwett is seeking the seal he held for 17 years prior to 1985. Mrs. Tripp, a town alderman from 1985 to 1991, was appointed mayor earli er this year to full the unexpired term of Jerry Jones, who resigned as mayor to serve as county commis sioner. Shallottc Aldermen Wilton Har relson and Jody Simmons have filed for re-election. Harrelson has served on the board since 1983, and Simmons was elected to his first term in 1987. Gene Frink also has filed for a scat on the Shallottc town board, said Sandy Hcwett, clcrk. Ocean Isle Beach Town Clcrk Daisy Ivcy said four people have filed for commissioner at Ocean Isle Beach in the past week. Town board candidates arc Raymond Erickscn, Janet Sanders, Kendall Suh and William T. Bull ington Jr., who chairs the town's plant ing board and is the husband of femer mayor LaDaie Bull ington. in varnamtown, A Merman John David Dawson has filed for rc-elec tion. Jeff Whitfield and Fayc Gall oway also arc seeking scats on the town board. Bolivia Mayor Ina Mae Mint/ has filed for re-election to a sixth two-year term. Alice Lcsh is seek ing a scat on the board of aldermen. Hewett Seeks Return Hcwctt, who served four years as alderman and was mayor of Shallottc from 1969 to 1985, said he wants to return to local politics. "I didn't complete the job and I want to finish it up," Hcwctt said in a telephone interview Tuesday. "You can ride through the Town of Shallotte and sec it dying on the street, dying on the branch," he said. "I just think that we need to get the town cranked back up and get it going again." Hewett said there are too many vacant buildings in the downtown business district, and there haven't been enough new businesses local Holden Beach Mayor Tandy Calling It Quits Holden Beach Mayor John Tandy will not seek a fourth consecutive term in office, saying the rapid growth of the island is putting too much demand on his time. Tandy said the island plays host to more vaca tioners every year, and the larger number of people crcates the need for more controls by the town. The mayor estimated that there were 1 5 percent more people on the island this Memorial Day than last year. The tourist season also has extended into I die fall in recent years. "With more people, it's just natural that you're gO'ng to need more controls," he said. "All of that TANDY takes time." Tandy, who is a former high school principal and football coach, has served as mayor since 1985 and previously served from 1979 to 1981. His term expires in December. "It's time for a change anyway in my estimation," Tandy said. "There's plenty of people on this island who would do a good job." Tandy said he and his wife, Elizabeth, are considering building a smaller house on Holden Beach or moving to Chapel Hill to be closer to their children. i 1 ing in town over the last five years. While neighboring towns like Holden Beach and Ocean Isle Beach have seen steady growth, Hcwctl said Shallottc's growth has declined. "I'm in business myself," said Hewett, who owns a hardware store on Main Street. "If it hurts Shallotte, it hum me too." Hewett wouldn't say what changes he would make if he were elected mayor, but said the town needs to expand its sewer plant to handle growth. "I know what I'm going to do, but I'm going to hang onto it," he said. "I've got some ^nswers to our problems." Hewett said he didn t want to criticize anyone presently serving the town as an elected official. He said they arc doing the best they can with the experience they have, but that he has more than 20 years of experience to ofTer. Southport/Oak Island At Yaupon Beach, three incum bents and one other candidate have filed for the three seats up for elec tion on the board of commissioners. Incumbents May Moore, James Poole Sr. and Joseph Broyles have filed for re-election. Michael Edward Keane also is seeking a town board seat. Also last week, Southport Ald erman Paul Sweeney filed for rc i See O I HER, i'a^e 2-a t Health Department Fears Another Permits Backlog As Two Inspectors Resign BY TERRY POPE Two resignations, and possibly a third, threaten to create a mid 1980s-typc backlog for septic tank permits, causing concern for local developers and the Brunswick County Health Department. "It puts us in a real bind," said John Crowdcr, environmental health supervisor. "It brings us back to where we were in 1985." As of Friday, a backlog of 157 applications for scptic tank permits had already accumulated at the health department, said Crowder. "We will be busy in the next few weeks," he said. "I hope the people will bear with us." The resignations come just as the health department is getting over a period of shorihandedness within the animal control division, said Rita Hatcher, public health educa tor. That unit was back on its regular schedule Monday morning, she said. Nancy Marley, an environmental health specialist, resigned for per sonal reasons, said Crowdcr. She was qualified to conduct soil evalu ations and to issue scptic tank per mits. In June, Brunswick County Com missioners voted to transfer her hus band, Walter Marlcy, county soil scientist, to a post in the engineer ing department. While not a health department employee, Marley worked closely with its environ mental health unit. Program Specialist Sonya Re mington, who inspected and graded restaurants, motels and swimming pools, has also resigned to accept a similar job in Pender County, said Crowder. Ms. Marley's last day is Aug. 9. Although Ms. Remington's last day is Aug. 16, she is using vacation lime that she had accumulated, said Crowder. The employee shortage is ham pered further by a Brunswick County Board of Health mandate adopted last month that said inspec tors of restaurants, motels and swimming pools would not be pul led from their jobs to do soil evalua uons should a backlog of septic tank permits develop. In 1985, developers argued that getting soil lests to see if lots were suitable for septic systems was tak ing too long. The staff was in creased to handle the growing num ber of applications. Citing top heaviness within the department, commissioners voted in June to cut back by firing Gary McDonald, environmental health specialist 1, who was in charge of permitting larger sewer systems, re viewing subdivision plats for the planning board and performing sec ond evaluations when requested by an applicant. It was McDonald's firing that an gered the health board into adopting the mandate to keep specialists re sponsible for restaurant and motel inspections at their posts. In asking for the mandate. Health Board Chamnan Bill Rabon said he did not want the department doing "an overall poor job" and wanted to keep the public's trust by staying at 100 percent in motel and restaurant inspections. Crowder said Monday that anoth er health specialist has indicated that he would also "probably" re sign soon. (See BACKLOG, Page 2-A) Beacon Price Goes To 50