Tf SWICK# BEACON
Thirtieth Year, Number 12 C?9W THt MUNSWICK 8!ACON Shallotte, North Carolina, Thursday, January 23, 1992 50<? Per Copy 34 Pages, 3 Sections, 3 Inserts
College Bound
Trojan football reaches
a new high as stars
Jimmy Crissett and
Daniel Russ (flanking
Coach Marshall Seay)
accept athletic scholar
ships to 1-A schools.
Details are on Page 9-B.
Katy Jones enjoyed
Sunday's snowfall while
she could. The season's
first snowflakes didn't
iast iongi i he stor y's on
Page 6- A..
Dream Lives On
A leader's vision? and
struggle? for equality
lives on in
the songs
of soloist
' f Diane
n Crissett
ana oth
ers as BCC
j* observes
v " the birth
day of Martin Luther
King Jr. For the story,
see Page 12-A.
ir
STAfF PHOTO BY DOUG RUTTER
Y/EIXZOME CENTER DIRECTOR Sabrina Hodges will be ready for an onslaught of visitors
when the new building opens Feb. 3.
Welcome Center Staff's Doing
Homework In Advance Of Opening
BY DOUG RL'TTER
Sabritia Houges and staff at the new Southeastern
Welcome Center in Shallottc arc touring the state's
coast this week, part of their homework in preparing
for the cc iter's opening in less than two weeks.
The SI. 2 million structure located at the U.S. 17
Shallottc bypass and N.C. 130 West opens Monday,
Feb. 3. The parking area and rcstrooms opened to the
public in December.
Mrs. Hodges, director, and her staff arc taking a
road trip this week to familiarize themselves with the
North Carolina attractions along and off of U.S. 17
they'll be. telling travelers about.
Staff members also wili "get their feet wet" when
they go to work at a sister regional welcome center
on U.S. 17 near the Virginia state line, Mrs. Hodges
said.
Besides the director, one part-time and two full
time employees will staff the 1,200-squarc-foot cen
ter, which features a 38-fooi-hign ceiling anil laigc
glass wall panels.
Mrs. Hodges said last week she expects the staff to
work well together to promote southeastern North
Carolina and the state as a whole
"We all know different things and 1 think that's go
ing to make a good mix for all of us," Mrs. Hodges
said.
The job of the welcome center staff will be to help
people reach their destinations and suggest places to
stop in North Carolina along the way.
Motorists who visit the center will find guides
from chambers of commerce and attractions across
the state as well as plenty of maps.
Mrs. Hodges had about 200 different brochures on
hand last week and expected a lot more soon. "I'm
sure in the next couple of weeks we'll be flooded
with other brochures," she said.
Nearly all of the furnishings in the welcome cen
ter ? including retngcralor, microwave oven, televi
sion, video casscttc recorder and brochure
racks ? were donated by local businesses and civic
arr?nn<c
o ? t
"We've really been blessed with community sup
(See WELCOME, PAGE 2-A)
Fnrmpr C rilnhnch
? W ? ? ? ? W ? ^ ? V? M w w ? ?
Councilman Accused
Of Lying To Jurors
BY TKRRY POPR
A former Calabash councilman
has been indictcd on charges that he
lied while under oath and submitted
false reimbursement claims to a fed
eral grand jury investigating an al
leged money laundering scheme.
Joel "Jiggy" Landis High was in
dicted in U.S.
District Court in
Greensboro Dec.
30. The docu
ment had been
placed under a
court seal until
recently released
as public record
by a U.S. Dis
trict Court judge.
The grand ju- high
ry questioned High in Greensboro
on Nov. 26 to gather information
about the May 1987 sale of his for
mer business, the Calabash Beve
rage Man, to a Yadkinville couple.
U.S. Marshals seized and placed
the store under federal seal in
November, claiming Harold Gray
Winters, and his wife, Maria Ashley
Winters, had purchased it with pro
ceeds from illegal cocaine deals.
The Winters, who also own property
seized in Yadkinville. arc the targets
of a two-year federal probe by
Internal Revenue Service investiga
tors and the U.S. Attorney General's
offfice.
Investigators say the store served
for several years as a front to laun
der illegal drug money while under
the Winters' ownership. Also seized
in November were three lots in
Calabash ? one in the Boundary
Estates subdivision and two at River
View Acres ? thai had been pur
chased with "illegal drug proceeds"
or had been used lo "facilitate illegal
drug activity," juuge W. Eari Brill's
order stated.
High, a Calabash native, was
clcctcd to the town council in Nov
ember 1987 with 38 write-in votes,
the highest number cast for any can
didate that year. No candidates filed
lor the five council scats wh'lc
Mayor Doug Simmons ran unop
posed.
That fall. High headed a four-per
son write-in ticket that was can
vassed door-to-door in Calabash,
with the promise of bringing change
to town politics. Locked in a battle
over water line assessments, incum
bents chose not to file for office.
The indictment states that High
"knowingly and contrary to saul
(vuh did make false materia! decla
rations in response to questions di
rected to him" before the grand jury .
Investigators had asked questions
regarding the sale of the Calabash
Beverage Mart to "determine the
source of the monies paid, the sales
price, and the method of payment
involved," the indictmcnt sought by
U.S. Attorney Robert H. Edmunds
Jr. states.
An IRS affidavit filed in the
Winters case claims that the amount
reflected in the attorney's closing
statement indicated a total price of
S100,00() for the store while deed
stamps indicated a SI 50,000 pur
chase price. Officials believe
Winters made a S50.000 "under the
table" cash payment to High, the af
fidavit states.
Under oath before ilie giaud jury,
the indictmcnt claims, High testified
falsely that:
?he only received S1(K>,(XX) when
he sold the store in May 1987;
? he did not receive any portion of
the sales price of the Calabash
Beverage Mart in cash monies;
?he did not pay any commission, in
cash, to the individual who intro
duced him to the buyer of the store:
?the purchaser had never mentioned
to him that he was experiencing tax
dilliculues; and
?he did not discus Ins proposed
testimony before the grand jury with
the individual who had purchased
the store.
High's icMimuiiy was false, u?C
indictment slates, because he al
(See FEDERAL. PAGE 2-A)
Point Residents Question Water Assessment Methods
BY TERRY POPE
Neighbors who live in Shallotte Point won't all pay
the same thing or by the same method to get county wa
ter.
I bat tact had about 200 residents asking a lot of
questions at a public hearing in Bolivia Tuesday.
The Brunswick County Utility Operations Board
scheduled the hearing to gailici continents on whether to
proceed with a special assessment district (SAD) for the
Point community.
When a quorum of UOB members did not show,
board attorney Michael Ramos advised the board could
still hold the hearing, but not take any action.
A! Morrison, Rudy Simmons and Robert Nubel also
listened to complaints from residents in SAD 16 (Sierra
Estates and Styron's Landing near Holden Beach) who
are upset over their water assessment bills.
Should distribution lines be installed this year, there
will be two ways residents can pay to get county water
at Shallotte Point.
Some property owners who live along main trans
mission lines arc part of the county's capital improve
MC?
menus project. By state law, those residents do not have
to tap onto the water system.
Others who live where water lines must be extended
to provide service will face a mandatory assessment and
tap-on fee.
However, all residents will face roughly the same
costs, said County Engineer Robert Tucker, regardless
of where they happen to live or what method they fare
If they choose to tap on, mair line customers will
pay a $450 point of service fee plus a $400 tap fee. SAD
customers will face a tap fee of $400 and an assessment,
which has averaged $452 for the previous 14 county
SAD projects, said Tucker.
The UOB has not decided how it plans to assess
Shallotte Point SAD customers, whether by square
footage of lots, road frontage or by parcel fee. Residents
have not been given preliminary cost estimates on what
they can expect to pay.
"Water is needed in Shallotte Point. It speaks for it
self," said resident Scou Taylor. "Ninety-nine percent of
the questions asked tonight concerns how it's going to
be implemented. We arc going to keep a close watch
over it to see that we are treated equitably."
UOB Chairman A1 Morrison said the board would
choose a method that is fair to all Shallotte Point resi
dents.
"I think (hat's how we want to do business," he said.
The county plan to open bids for the main lines Feb.
10. County commissioners are expected to hire a con
tractor Feb. 17. Water should be available to main line
customers in six to eight months and shortly thereafter
to SAD residents, said Jerry Webb, director of public
utilities.
"We will make an attempt to service every parcel of
land in that area," said Webb. "We may have to take
some out."
SAD 16 Complaints
SAD 16 residents asked the UOB Tuesday to recon
sider the assessment method chosen for that project. The
area includes 445 lots in Sierra Estates and Styron's
Landing off of N.C. 130 (Holden Beach Road).
Two letters presented to the board attacks the square
footage method used to calculate water assessments.
Attorney Sandra Jclovsck of Johnson City, Tenn.,
who represents property owners in SAD 16, said most
residents were willing to support the water project at
first for a reasonable fee.
She said the estimated 400 inland lots are being as
sessed more than the 58 lots along die waterway, making
the project unfair.
'The method is the least fair of the five methods that
the legislature provides iiuough state statutes," wrote
Ms. Jelovsek.
She accused the board of favoring a "small interest
group at the expense of the property owners in the SAD"
and urged the board to look again at making a "good
faith effort to achieve proportional" assessments in SAD
16.
"We've gone through this in a number of SADs,"
said Morrison. "That's why we're here listening to what
vou have to say. We're not closed-minded about any of
this."
The low bid for SAD 16 was S 174,628. Both a pre
liminary and a final public hearing have been held on
the project, said Webb.
Figures Show Home Building Up
At Beaches, Down In County
BY THE NKWS STAFF
New home building was up along ihe South
Brunswick Islands beaches during 1991, despite talk of
a recession in the national economy, statistics indicate.
"I'm not surprised," said Pat Fox, president of the
Brunswick Islands Board of Realtors. "I think we're go
ing to have even more building in 1992."
Data shows construction decreased slightly in unin
corporated areas of the county, from 181 permits for
new homes in 1990 iu 165 homes last year.
Sunset Beach, Holdcn Beach and Calabash all re
ported an increase in new home construction, while
building at Ocean Isle remained steady.
Newer highways, lower North Carolina taxes and
ideal weather conditions are attractive to persons from
northern states looking to relocate, said Ms. Fox.
"We do have buyers out there," she said. "Some are
looking for the lowcr-cost-homes."
Home construcuon had suffered through two straight
years of decline in unincorporated areas of the county
before 1990's increase. The value of new stick built, sin
gle-family homes built in the county slipped froir. $!2.7
million in 1990 to SI 1 million last year.
The Brunswick County Building Inspections Depart
ment issues permits for new home construction in areas
outside ot town zoning disuicls and for six towns that do
not have their own programs. Those towns are Belvillc,
Bolivia, Lcland, Navassa, Sandy Creek and Vamam
town.
Last year the county issued permits for 47 commer
cial projects valued at more than S14 million. Other per
mits include: 97 remodeling, $1.1 million; 113 addi
tions, SI. 4 million; 55 garages, $839,926; 29 dccks and
porches, S 162,7 10; eight pools, S 102,480; and 38 signs,
S203.745.
It also issued permits for 845 mobile homes last
year, compared to 1,130 during 1990.
Calabash expanded its extraterritorial areas (ETAs)
this year to spots where the county was once responsible
for issuing building permits.
That may have helped Calabash increase its con
struction figures for 1991. Building Inspector Ed
C UUUb k said he issued permits for 62 single-family
homes and 23 mobile homes last year.
In 1990, Calabash issued permits for 37 single-fami
ly homes and in 1989, 35 homes.
(See Rl'ILDINC., PAGE 2-A)
Area Construction In 1991
AREA YEAR HOMES VALUATION*
Holden Beach 1990 42 3,04
1991 59 4.25
Ocean isle 1990 35 3.60
1991 32 4.02
Sunset Beach 1990 59 N/A
1991 76 5.64
Calabash 1990 37 N/A
1991 62 N/A
County 1990 181 13.7
1991 165 11.0
? To tlM DMPMt o I dollar*
HlkxmxsJfr. .
PHOTO BY DORi OUAGANUS
CONSTRUCTION WORKERS (from left) William Stewart, Dexter Melvin and Rick Pearman are
busy on Epp and Dona tree's home on N.C. 179 at Sunset Beach, where new home construction
climbed in 1991.