Opinion Page
THE BRUNSWICK&BEACON
Edward M. Sweatl and Carolyn II. Swralt Plifrtishirs
Edward M. Sweatt Edi tor
Susan Usher News Editor
Done Kutter. Terry Pope ami Dorl Curganus St< i[l Writers
Johnnv Craig Spoils Editor
IVflijy Eaiw?xxl OJjice Manaifcr
Carolyn II. Swratt AthviHsiru/ Dinrtor
Timi>eiley Adams. Ceeeiia Gore and
Mill Nlstiet Adverttstni/ Representatives
Lh>p>i iiy Mtennan Graphic Artist
William Manning Pressman
Uremia Cleiniiuins Moore Photo Technician
Lonnlc Sprinkle Assistant Pressman
I'hoehe riftniiHins ami Frances Sweat! Circulation
PAGE 4 A. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1991
Some Choices
Are Expensive
When is the cost too groat?
That's the question Brunswick County's UOB must ask it
self when deciding whether to proceed with special assessment
water districts (SADs) in the W'innabow/Town Creek area.
Not just monetary1 cost, hut the cost of losing public trust.
At a public meeting last week, residents of the proposed su
per SAD N area which would include 572 parcels and several
smaller proposed SADs made it very clear that the cost ot the
proposed project or projects was too much tor the typical prop
erty owner, initially estimated at SI. 879 to S3.495 per parcel, de
pending on the road, and likely to drop only slightly if the pro
jects are combined.
While they might enjoy having access to county water, as
residents pointed out at a recent public meeting, that same sum
of money would allow a household to buy a lot of pumps and a
lot of wells.
Thev would just as soon wait a while longer on county wa
ter. until they have a few more neighbors or more spare cash.
Residents were also quick to point out something that at
least one county water official claimed not to know ? that one or
more housing development projects are planned on most of the
roads in question. But the developer and residents of those sub
divisions w ill not help pay the cost of getting the water to them,
only the cost of the smaller lines that run through the subdivi
sion itself.
We've seen the county UOB force water on at least one oth
er community. in the Holden Beach area. Residents of the com
munity said, adamantly, that they didn't want and couldn't af
ford county water.
But if they didn't get water, it was going to increase the cost
of providing water to a planned subdivision that would be locat
ed behind that neighborhood.
The county went ahead w ith the SAD. over the objections of
the people who were going to have to pay.
With as many neighborhoods as there are that want water
and are w illing to pay for it at apparently almost any price, why
not skip the ones that can't afford it or don't want it right now?
Nothing bothers taxpayers worse than having something
shoved down their throats. It tastes like medicine, with the mes
sage. "Take it. it's nood for vou and somedav vou'll be glad you
did."
That may be. but if so the county hasn't done a good job of
explaining how that might be.
Rural county residents still haven't forgotten the promise
made by certain county officials w hen the bond referendum was
up for a vote, that the bonds would pay for water service to all
county residents.
Rural residents have waited and waited as lines were built to
the the more urbanized areas along the coast. When more lines
were built it was to provide more water to that same urbanizing
coastal strip.
Now, they're told they can have water, but it's going to cost
a pretty penny.
Unless the county can find some way to soften the financial
blow, why force this latest bitter pill on top of the other?
Unfortunately, while the county holds public hearings on
these projects, it isn't obligated to follow the wishes of the peo
ple attecied by the SADs. It can do what it darn well
pleases ? and please whomever it wants ? in the name of
growth.
Sidewalk Is
Long Overdue At Holden Beach
I could be wrong, but it appears
that a sidewalk is in the works at
llolden Beach.
Honest. It really looks like the
town may finally crack open its
vault and fork out some dough for a
concrete walkway along Ocean
Boulevard.
1 know it's hard to believe. I can
hardly believe it niysell. In fact. I
probably won't really believe it un
til I see the cement trucks rolling
across the bridge.
llolden Beach officials have been
talking about a sidewalk for years.
They've had money in the budget
since 1W. but the first drop of wet
cement has yet to be poured.
Granted. Hurricane Hugo fouled
things up two years ago. The town
couldn't really afford a sidewalk af
Doug
Ruffer
lor spending S3(X).(XX) to rebuild the
dunes.
There were no natural disasters to
eat up the town's money last year.
But commissioners were reluctant
to build sidewalks with the under
ground utilities project going on.
I guess 1 can't blame them lor
that one. You wouldn't want to
build a nice sidewalk one day and
have it torn apart by trench digging
machines die next day.
So the sidewalk vv;ts delayed tinul
ihis year. I lolden Beach presently
has $-40.<XX) safely tucked away hi
the hank, which should l\- enough
for about 5.(*M) loot ol walkway.
If you ask me. it would be a
crime to delay construction of this
mythical sidewalk any longer. The
residents, property owners ami visi
tors won't stand for any more ex
cuses.
Por one reason or another,
Holden Beach folks don't agree too
often. Some of them want a sewer
system and some don't. Sonic ol
them want street lights and some
don't. Some of them support annex
ation and some don't.
But ihc need for a sidewalk has
never been disputed. In the three
years thai I've been following the
comings and goings at Holden
Beach, I can't ever recall hearing a
had wonl .iIhhii sidewalks.
liveryone agrees thai a sidewalk
on Ocean Boulevard will make the
island a much safer place. As it is
now. vehicles have to cnuipclc with
bicyclers, walkers and joggers lor a
piece of the road.
Things can still change, hut it
looks to me like this may he the
year for a sidewalk. Oh sure, town
commissioners still have a lot of de
cisions to make about the deal.
They need to decide whether it
should Iv on the north or south side
ol Ocean Boulevard and what sec
tion of the island needs it the worst.
But it shouldn't take long to iron
out those last lew details. I've never
known the Holden Beach Com
missioners to drag their feet...
On second thought, I'm not quite
ready to hold my breath lor that
sidewalk.
o
OK/w, it's (September
TIME FOR THE FIRST
CHRISTMAS commercial'
? (?>/<??/ cAtaiWACAjtTooHz*
Writing The Book On
Building A
Library
Nobody has worked harder than
Ediih Tillman to help build a new
and much needed Leland branch of
the Brunswick County Library for
her community.
As chairman of the Leland
Library Building Fund, she pleaded,
pushed and combed the community
for S217,(XX) in donations to help
build the facility. A S50,(XX) suite
grant and SM),(XX) donation from
the town of Leland were part of the
till.
In March, plans called for con
struction of the library to begin in
May with a completion date in
October. It's September, and no
work has begun. A town road to the
site hasn't even been budt.
The talk around Leland is that the
library was in danger of losing its
slate grant because the project had
become bogged down in the legal
shuffle, and the personalities in
volved have been at war.
At one time, the biggest hurdle of
all was collecting enough money to
build it. Once that monster was de
feated, Ms. Tillman thought the rest
would be easy.
Lately, she has been frustrated
Terry f ~
Pope * ?
&
and angry at ihc mm of events. Last
week. Stale Library Director
Howard McGinn met with represen
tatives from the town of Lcland and
a few members of the Brunswick
County Library Board of Trustees to
try to straighten out the mess and to
calm everyone's emotions.
"I spent live years of my life on
this," said Ms. Tillman.
She feels her dream is slipping
away.
The library was to be a Leland
area library, not one owned by the
town, which now may assume con
trol of the project. The town of
Bclvillc has also donated S2l,(XX)
for a Leland "area" library. Now
they may want their money back,
UK), as tempers arc starting to flare.
Lelanil Mayor Russell Baldwin
and a lew members ol ihe town
council convinced the library board
U) build the facility on land the town
owns, behind the town hall on
Village Road. The town also
stepped in and redesigned the pro
ject. They enlarged it from 3,2(X)
square feet to 4, (XX) square feet,
gave it a different roof style anil
added colonial architecture and a
clock tower.
Ihe library building committee
remained flexible.
"We have renegotiated twice."
said Ms. Tillman. "We have
changed things that people were not
happy with."
Some in the community resent
the town stepping in the way it did
and hold Baldwin personally ac
countable for the delays. In his de
fense, Baldwin has dipped into his
own pocket to donate SI, (XX) to the
building fund, so he appears to want
what's best for residents.
The Lcland Sanitary District had
also offered the library board a
place to build. That offer was de
clined, although it was a much less
political invitation and probably die
tvsi move.
Ai the rushed meeting last week,
those involved didn't invite the one
person who has been the backbone
of the whole project. Hut Ms.
Tillman heard about the meeting
through the grapevine and made
plans to attend. Alter all. she is on
the library board, uk>.
She has in hand a contract signed
by Luther T. Rogers Inc. of
Wilmington who is ready to start
building. She has enough funds to
complete it. But the i2-mcmbcr li
brary board refused to sign the con
tract. This has been going on for
months and months.
"The buildinj; committee has
done all of the work," said Ms.
Tillman. "Someone has instilled a
fear in them."
Brunswick County's libraries are
not controlled by county commis
sioners, as is tlte case with most
other library systems. The local li
brary trustees move at a snail's
pace, meeting only every other
month.
"That's one of the problems,"
said Ms. Tillman. "You can't get
(See WRITING, Following Page)
So
What's
All This
Flurry
Over
Quest?
Ask any Miss America it she's
not seen ? in her mind's eye ? her
self, artfully gowned, walking down
the ramp wearing a crown, carrying
roses and smiling before a wildly
applauding audience. That's one ex
ample of visualizing personal suc
cess.
Remember history class? One
guy played General Washington
and the other a fellow soldier trying
to figure a way to get boots and
coats and food for starving men
whose toes were freezing off. All
of a sudilen the Revolutionary War
seemed real.
The first scenario above is an
example of visualization ? the kind
of thing Quest opponents say un
dermines our kids by teaching them
that they, not God, are the source ol
all power. They see it as a tool ol
non Christian religions, an aid to
brainwashing and the like.
In the second, a moment in histo
ry may seem more real because of
the personalities introduced.
History became more than dates,
places, numbers, a joy instead of an
obligation. But opponents of pro
grams like Quest would argue that
the scene was an attempt "to reach
the dead through a medium."
Ah! The occult, slipped in wit
tingly or unwillingly ? as pari of a
history lesson. Ai least that's what
a stack of material provided me by
Janet Pope would have us believe.
Ask yourself. Is this something
we really need to worry about?
I could be wrong, but I don't
think so and I'm personally glad
the school board didn't think so ei
ther last Monday night.
You'll have to judge for yourself,
based on your own experiences.
I listened intently last Monday
nighi as Mrs. Pope and another
mother, Jean Barber, asked the
county school board to do away
wnh with a popular program called
Quest. They think the program
tears al the family structure and
subtly involves students in aspects
of the occult, Eastern religions and
New Age thinking.
If Quest isn't trying to subvert
our children, as they insist, what is
it about? Why would a school ac
tively choose it and why would a
fine group like the Shallotte Lions
Club support it? Here's what 1
think.
Quest attempts to help adoles
cents better understand and like
themselves and learn some of the
skills we all need to have, such as
decision making and getting along
wiiti people who are different from
us.
Can it he wrong to leach a child
to listen and hear out another's
ideas ? whether he or she agree
with those ideas or not? It's called
respect. It doesn't mean you have
to adopt values contrary to your
own, but it does mean learning that
not everyone thinks like you
do ? even if you think they should
and want to tell them so right then
and there.
It means learning as my mother
tried so hard to teach me, that
"there is a time and a place..."
What about citizenship? Quest
also has a service and citi/.cnship
component that helps young people
begin understanding they have a re
sponsibility to their communities,
just as they do to themselves and
their families. Students choose a
project that will help their school or
greater community and begin learn
ing the joy of giving without ex
pectation of rewar ' Tb,>v ,n|s,? fintj
out what it means to be part of a
team, something those of us who
aren't athletes don't always get to
leam as children.
Can wc cxpect young people to
make decisions as an adult if they
don't start taking some responsibil
iiy for themselves before then?
People from other countries who
visit America marvel at how imma
ture our young people arc. That
shouldn't surprise us.
How many limes a day or week
do we list the pros and cons of tak
ing a specific action? On the other
hand, how many times have any
one of us ? as a child or an
adult ? done something at the spur
of the moment without having
thought about the consequences
and later regretted our action?
If we were lucky, that rash action
didn't make a big difference.
Haling a hot fudge sundae and
adding on some calorics generally
won't change the direction of one's
life.
But what about some other liny,
spur of the moment choices? Could
they change n life? You bet.
Accepting an alcoholic drink, crack
or an unidentified pill from a friend
could. Slipping upslairs after
school for casual sex with a
boyfriend could. The lisi goes on.
Ideally, most of the children in
question shouldn't have loo many
serious decisions to make. After all,
they are children, with parents sup
posedly guiding ihem along. Some
may have been taught right from
wrong anil perhaps know also ihey
would sutler consequences ? pun
ishment ? at home it not anywhere
else should they do something un
acceptable. In lots of cases there
wouldn't be a "choice" at all.
Bui that's an ideal world, one
that most of us reali/e doesn't ex
ist. Many children these days arc
weighed with grown-up problems
and tears they carry in small bodies
dressed in bravado.
As for the value of a family pass
ing along ils values instead of let
ling a child develop his own, that
assumes a family has consciously
chosen a set of values in the first
place.
Families and churches are opting
out on some of their traditional re
sponsibilities. It has fallen on the
schools ? with programs such as
Quest ? to try to fill at least some
of the gaps in developing well
rounded young people in a society
where children wearing $100
sneakers are passed back and forth
among parerns like so much bag
gage.
No, it's not the schools' "job,"
but they can'i do their real work
unless this other stuff is taken care
of first. Programs like Quest help.