West To Clash With Whiteville Friday In Historic Playoff Game,
THE B"" ?
Details 9-B
Thirtieth Year, Number 4
BO* ' '
1 'Ml ??UN5?. C P f- j ' -1 ' ^ ''
i 4
-sday, November 27, 1991
50c Per Copy
36Pages, 3 Sections, 5 Inserts
STAff PHOTO BY TERRV POPE
ItRUiXSWICK COUNTY'S 911 emergency communications building remains under construction,
scheduled for completion in April 1992.
GETTING READY FOR 91 1
Calabash First To Lose
Its Rural Postal Routes
BY TKRRY POPK
Brunswick County's rural postal
routes will begin phasing out this
week, starting in the Calabash area.
A house numbering system will
replace rural route numbers to en
able a swifter response for emergen
cy vehicles under the county's new
enhanced 911 system, which may
:*gi- ?>pc \Uinp in April 1092.
Calabash residents will receive
their new addresses by mail this
week, said Doug Lcdgelt, director of
Brunswick County's Emergency
Medical Services.
About 1,300 postal patrons in the
Calabash zone have already received
one notification, but it should be ig
nored because of some errors, said
Lcdgelt. On some letters, the street
names were either wrong or acci
dentally omitted, he said.
"Like any new system, there may
be errors and ongoing problems,"
said Ledgett. "Everybody's human."
After residents receive their new
addresses this week, they can begin
using them immediately. If there arc
errors, they are asked to contact the
Brunsw ick County Planning Depart
ment.
New addresses will be mailed to
rural route residents next in Sunset
Beach, Ocean Isle Beach and
Lcland, in that order, said Lcdgctt.
Every two to three weeks, a new
batch of addresses will be mailed
until the county has been covered,
approximately 30,000 mailings over
the next four months.
After receiving new house num
bers, residents have one year in
which to change addresses and to
begin the lengthy process of getting
new driver's licenses, ordering new
checks and notifying utility compa
nies, friends and relatives. The post
office will not forward mail with ru
As county residents receive their new
addresses , they can begin using them
immediately. ?Doug Ledgett
EMvS Director
ral route addresses after a year has
passed.
"For residents, it becomes a major
project," said Lcdgctt. "It's a major
change, but it happens just once."
The address information will ar
rive at homes in official U.S. Postal
Service stationery, for the post office
is working with the Brunswick
County Planning Department to co
ordinate mailing.
The letters explain how residents
should display numbers on their
homes and mailboxes. Towns that
do not have house numbering arc
working with the county to drop ru
ral routes also.
County officials hope all im
proved lots or parcels of land will
have a number by April 1, target
date for starting 911.
Calabash was chosen to reccivc
new addresses first because it was
labeled by postal officials as the
county's most troublesome area for
mail delivery, said Lcdgctt.
County government agencies are
also working together to help resi
dents change addresses at depart
ments there. Changing an address at
one office, such as the tax depart
ment or board of elections, will
change the address for all county
mailings, said Lcdgctt.
"But the person must initiate the
change," he added. "They must con
tact one department."
Lcdgctt expects most questions
will arise from confused residents
wh" g'.t their ?r,atl iM ?? post
box or a sccond rcsidcncc. Thcv
musi still mount house numbers on
their homes or mailboxes, he said.
Some persons use a roadside
mailbox that is not located on the of
ficial address road. Often, the mail
carriers will not travel down roads
that are not passable. In that case,
the house number and road name
must be placed on the mailbox, said
Ledgeil.
Following are some facts about
the house numbering system:
?No new addresses will exceed five
digits, the highest in the 1(),(XH)
range;
?Supply is considered "ground ze
ro," which means house numbering
will start in the l(X)s at the U.S. 17
and N.C. 21 1 intersection there in all
directions;
?The county is divided into four
quadrants ? Northeast, Northwest,
Southeast and Southwest ? designat
ed as NE, NW, SE and SW at the
end of each address and must be
used as part of the address;
?The Northwest community near
Lcland will be located in the North
east quadrant;
?Numbers must be at least three
inches in height and in a color that
contrasts with the surface on which
they arc mounted;
?A number has been assigned or re
served along each sweet for every 25
feet of property, in case homes pop
up in between existing houses.
School Board To Adopt
Tougher Weapons Ban
li Y SUSAN I SI1KK
Brunswick County principals may soon have tougher,
more uniform policies in place tor dealing with violence
and potential violence on campus.
Revamped policies on weapons and lighting arc
among the expected outcomes of a three-hour work ses
sion Monday night attended by Brunswick County
Board of Education members, 10 principals and assis
tant principals and some central office stall members.
The session dealt mainly with board policies that af
fcct daily operation of the schools. The school adminis
trators had been invited to express their concerns to the
board and to offer suggestions.
Board members and principals generally supported a
request by South Brunswick Middle School iVincipal
Lcs Tubb to bring county policy in line with a new state
law that makes it a misdemeanor offense to have a
weapon on a school campus ? including a common
pocket knife.
"I'm not afraid to walk on my campus and 1 don't
think any of my teachers are," said South Brunswick
Principal Sue Sellers. "It's just that we want something
to deter this kind of behavior, something to avert that."
At South Brunswick so far this year, stall members
have confiscated four knives, a box cutler and a
corkscrew. The school doesn't randomly conduct
searches; if a student is suspected of having a weapon he
or she is asked to empty pockets and other belongings.
Principals handle weapon possession differently cam
pus to campus, especially when it comes to items such
as pocket knives that are not specifically identified as
weapons in the county policy and arc commonly owned
by students of varying ages.
Principal Ed Lemon of West Brunswick High School
said he plans to follow the law 'until told otherw ise."
"It says weapon possession is a misdemeanor," he
said, including pocket kjw ves.
"The first lime we have a killing from one ol those
'little pocket knives'," he cautioned, "the board of edu
cation will change its policy."
Principals would no longer have the option of
whether u> involve a law enforcement agency when a
student is found with a weapon in his or her possession,
but hasn't used it.
"This is something we can all follow instead of each
of us doing something different," said North Brunswick
High School Principal Robert Harris. "I think it will be
good."
In a first offense, the weapon would be confiscated,
the student suspended tor 10 days and parent and stu
dent required to attend a conference with the principal
before the student is allowed to return to school. School
authorities would notify police and ihe student would be
charged.
A second offense would result in long-term suspen
sion, while a third offense would result in expulsion
from school.
One possibility would be for a student and parent to
have the right to peution the school board to show why
the student should be allowed to return to school after
the suspension.
For use of a weapon, a student would be expelled
from sch(x)l. the weapon confiscated, police notified and
the student charged appropriately.
Current policy provides that the school, on a first of
fense possession, confiscate the weapon, notify the par
ents. and take action that might range from "verbal dis
cipline to expulsion". For use of a weapon, the policy al
so calls for placing the child in police custody.
"Going through the legal system tends to have more
impact on students and parents," South Brunsw ick High
School Principal Sue Sellers wrote the school board,
than in-school or out-of-school suspension or parent
conferences.
However, she said the approach has drawbacks that
include stall time spent in taking out warrants and mak
ing court appearances.
Superintendent P R. Hankins reminded board mem
bers and principals that when students are sent to jail it
(See BOARD. Page 2-A>
Rescue Squads To Soon
Offer Advanced Care
BY DOUt; RUTTER
Brunswick County's Emergency
Medical Services team and volun
teers with area rescue squads will
soon be able to offer better care
when they re
spond to emer
gency calls.
All but one of
the county's 10
rescue squads
will be going to
Advanced Life
Support
(A.L.S.) in Jan
uary or early
February, ac
cording to Doug Ledgett, county
emergency medical services direc
tor.
The move to A.L.S. requires more
training for rescuers and more
equipment on the ambulances. It
will be a step up from the type of
care that is presently
provided ? which is known as Basic
Life Support.
Ledgett said the end result will be
that rescue workers will have more
training and be less limited in the
LEDGETT
kinds of treatment they can render
when they respond to life- threaten
ing calls.
A.L.S. will allow the trained vol
unteers to draw blood, use intra
venous (IV) fluids, use semi-auto
matic defibrillators for heart attack
victims and offer other advanced
types of treatment.
With Advanced Life Support, res
cue workers will have to be in con
stant radio contact with a physician
or mobile intensive care nurse at the
hospital.
Doctors and rurscs will give in
formation over d.e radio about how
to treat victims a.; they are being
transported to the hospital.
"It more or less extends the emer
gency room," said Danni Moore, a
member of Shallotte Volunteer Res
cue Squad. "It sort of brings the hos
pital to the victim rather than mak
ing them waiting unul they get
there."
All of the volunteer rescue squads
in the county are making the change
except Bald Head Island, which
doesn't have the full-time personnel
it needs to offer Advanced Life
Support.
Ledgett said about 40 rescue
workers in the county have been cer
tified as Emergency Medical Tech
nician-Intermediates (EMT-I), the
minimum training required to start
(See ADVANCED, Page 2-A)
HEARING CUT SHORT BY EMERGENCY
W/nnabow, Town
Creek Fight
County Water
BY TKRRY POPK
Ai a public hearing cut short by a medical
emergency Monday night, about 200 Winnabow
and Town Creek residents told county officials
they do not want county water in their neighbor
hoods.
Just alter the meeting began, a man suffered
an apparent heart attack in the public assembly
building at the Brunswick County Government
Complex in Bolivia.
When Brunswick County Utility Operations
Board Chairman AI Morrison later asked if any
one was in favor of Special Assessment District
19, no one spoke. When he asked for people op
posed to the project to raise their hands, the vote
was unanimous.
"I've never spoken, even in my church, and
had everyone leaning in one way," said
Morrison. "This is quite an event."
SAD 19 would include assessments for 574
property owners in the Winnabow and Town
Creek communities. If approved as a project,
water lines would be installed along Zion
Church Road, Town Creek Road, Old Town
Creek Road, Green Hill Road, Crabapple Road,
Snowficld Road, Goodland Drive, Maco Road
to Oak view Estates, Cherry Tree Road and
Governor's Road.
Residents say they arc opposed to the project
because of the high cost of installing the lines
along large tracts of land in the mostly rural
communities.
UOB member D.V. Jones said it was "pretty
obvious" which way the board, which meets
Monday, Dec. 5 at 5:30 p.m., will vote on SAD
19.
Two people had spoken against the water pro
ject when the apparent heart attack victim fell to
the floor. Brunswick County Sheriff's Deputies
Gene Browning and Becky McDonald, along
with a number of volunteers, helped give the
man cardiopulmonary resuscitation until rescue
personnel arrived.
Morrison asked for a moment of silent prayer
before ending the meeting.
Speaking on behalf of the UOB, he slated, "I
think we all realize just how you feel about this
project. I really don't think it's appropriate to
continue the meeting tonight. We're just like
anyone else ? we listen to your comments."
The board will send its recommendation to
Brunswick County Commissioners on whether
to proceed with SAD 19 or to drop it. The vote
cannot be taken at a public hearing.
A petition, headed by l-ois W. Smith, has
been presented to the UOB with the names of
127 residents opposed to SAD 19. District 4
County Commissioner Frankie Rabon said an
estimated 94 percent of Town Creek residents
have signed petitions opposing the water pro
ject.
Resident Willie B. Henry said the actual num
ber of people on the petition can be misleading.
Persons who own many parcels may have
signed the petition only once, he added.
"The ones who signed the petition were the
ones who had road frontage," said Henry. "A lot
of people got the letters but don't have road
frontage."
Resident Sarah Bennett staled that people
were opposed to the project because others in
the county have connected to county water lines
in the past but did not have to pay an assess
ment.
About 2(X) Town Creek and Winnabow resi
dents attended a community meeting in
September where a majority spoke against the
water project. However, a public hearing was
scheduled by commissioners, as required by the
state, to gather official input, said Morrison.
(See WATER, Page 2-A)
Gunmen Rob Two Area Stores
BY TKRRY POPK
Masked gunmen robbed two area
businesses of an undetermined
amount of money over the weekend,
prompting the Brunswick County
Sheriff's Department to issue a
warning to local merchants.
"With the holiday season ap
proaching, they need to be extra
cautious," said Phil Perry, chief of
detectives. "If they should see some
thing the least bit out of the ordi
nary, they should call the sheriff's
department, and we'll have someone
check it out."
Two men armed with a sa wed-off
shotgun and pistol entered the pro
shop at the Sandpiper Bay Golf
Course around 4:40 p.m. Sunday
near Ocean Isle, reported Deputy
George Stanley.
They held the guns on two em
ployees there and demanded money,
said Stanley. One employee was
grabbed around the neck and
dragged into the building, where a
suspect held a gun to his head.
Another suspect pointed a shot
gun at an employee behind the
counter, forced her into an office to
open a safe, Stanley reported.
Alter the contents of the safe was
dumped into a bag, the suspects
made the employees lie face down
on the llixir, telling them not to
move or they would he shot, said
Stanley.
The suspects, described as two
black males around 5 feet 10 inches
tall, also grabbed some shirts from
the pro shop w hile fleeing the scene.
One suspcct was wearing a red
Halloween mask, blue jeans and
gloves. The other suspect was wear
ing a dark blue ski mask.
Perry said it is possible that the
suspects are also responsible for an
armed robbery Saturday evening at
the Acme Convenient Mart at the in
tersection of U.S. 17 and N.C. lXU
at Grissettown.
Three armed men entered the
store around 7:10 p.m.. pointed a
gun at the clerk and demanded mon
ey, reported Stanley.
One suspect, wearing a brown
motorcycle helmet, pointed a gun at
the clerk and announced the holdup.
The victim put his hands in the air,
said Stanley.
A second suspect went behind the
counter and tried to open the cash
register. He then forced the clerk to
open the register and forced him to
go to the rear of the store, where
they told him to lie on the floor,
Stanley reported.
One of the suspects searched for
the victim's wallet, but the clerk did
not have one, said Stanley.
The victim told Stanley that he
heard the three men talking, the d(*>r
close and a car drive away.
The other suspects were wearing
dark ski masks, said Stanley.
Should merchants notice suspi
cious persons loitering around busi
nesses. or cars passing by a business
in a suspicious manner, they should
call the sheriff's department, said
Perry.
"People need to be observant,"
said Perry. "Anything that makes
them feel uneasy should be report
ed."