Three Programs Will Serve County's Elderly Next Year
BY SUSAN USHF.R
A [private agency instead of the Brunswick County
Department of Social Services will provide in-home
services to county seniors starting July 1 under a fund
ing plan approved Monday by the county commission
ers.
This year the Brunswick County Board of Commis
sioners had to assume direct responsibility for delivery
of services to the aging. Monday night it approved a
plan that provides for three agencies to provide a vari
ety of services, with top priority given to meals, in
home care and transportation.
Funds for services during the 1993 fiscal year will
be provided under a Home and Community Care Block
Grant for Older Adults, instead of in separate grants.
The approach allows the county to allocate money in a
way that reflects the county's priorities in services to
older adults and their families. The new funding plan
will go into effect with adoption of the county budget
Accepting the recommendations of an advisory
committee, commissioners voted unanimously Monday
to contract with Well Care & Nursing Services Inc. of
Wilmington for in-home services now provided by
DSS. The project is funded at S51.080, of which the
county provides a S5.108 local match.
The Well Care bid proposed serving 28 clients with
aides at a cost of S8.09 per unit, while DSS Director
Jamie Orrock said the department could serve 15
clients at a cost of S7.96 per unit. The advisory com
mittee opted for the higher number of clientele served,
rather than the lower cost per unit bid by DSS.
Other service providers will be the county's
Department of Older Adults, which will provide con
gregate meals, home-delivered meals, transportation,
case assistance, minor home improvements and senior
center operations, at a total cost of S366.993, including
a local match of S22.992.
Brunswick Adult Day Care will serve an est i ma tat
13 clients at a total cost of S68.090, of which the coun
ty's local match is SI. 834.
Fired Worker Complains
Sheila Gore, a former county solid waste depart
ment employment, complained Monday night to com
missioner; that she was fired Saturday by Waste
Industries, the company the county contracted with this
year for trash collection.
She said she was fired with any advance warning
"because 1 was not wearing my uniform properly." Ms.
Gore contended the county employees hired by the
company were guaranteed employment past 90 days,
and that there was to be no probationary period. She al
so said the group was without insurance for two
months, but had been "guaranteed" insurance.
She cited the incident as another example of why
the county should not have contracted with the private
company.
However, after the meeting County Manager David
Clcgg said the group, in the county's contract with
Waste Industries, was guaranteed employment for 90
days only. "Our agreement was they would not fire
anyone during that period even if they did something
inappropriate," he said.
Also, all had an opportunity to extend their county
insurance coverage until Waste Industries' insurance
began coverage, by assuming payment of the premi
ums.
The 90-day guaranteed employment period ended
Friday. Unlike county government, he said, private em
ployer! can terminate workers without having first is
sued warnings.
Other Business
In other business, commissioners:
?Following a public hearing at which no one from the
public spoke, named or renamed roads as advertised,
with one exception. A portion of Tart's Trail, off Mt.
Misery Road, was renamed Rebel's Trail.
?Forwarded property owners* petition to the N.C.
Department of Transportation requesting the state take
over maintenance of Indian Creek Drive off of Mt.
Misery Road.
?Designated the Volunteer and Information Center
(VIC) to serve the distribution agency for USDA com
modities, at VIC's request and with support of the
Department of Social Services.
?Adopted prelimary assessment rolls for the Jennifer
Subdivision water project in northern Brunswick
County and SAD 12, setting a public hearing July 13 at
6:30 p.m. on the SAD project, which includes Shady
Oaks, Seaside Heights and the Calabash Acres II area.
?Reappointed Commissioner Pinkcrton and Alton
Millikcn of Shallottc to the Lower Cape Fear Water &
Sewer Authority and appointed Richard Marshall of
Lcland to replace Gary Shocmakc, who did not seek
reappointment.
?Appointed William Newnam of Long Beach to the
Doshcr Hospital Board of Trustees until the scat vacat
ed by William Si/.cmore can be filled by election.
Sizcmorc moved outside Smithville Township.
?Delayed appointment of a physician to the
Southeastern Area Mental Health Board to replace Dr.
Charles Locke of Shallottc, and of a member to the
Nursing Home/ Domiciliary Advisory Board to replace
Jonathan Hankins of Southport, who resigned bccausc
of a conflict of interest.
?Accepted dedication to the county water system of
Phases III, IV and I-B of the St. James Plantation water
system.
Commissioners Will Meet Monday
Brunswick County Commission
ers will lake another look at the pro
posed 1992-93 budget Monday at a
work session that will begin at 9
a.m. in the Administration Building
at the county government center.
Among other items, the board is
expected to reconsider a proposed
cut in funding for the Southport
Maritime Museum.
That item brought the majority of
citizen input during a brief public
hearing last Thursday night on the
county's S45 million proposed bud
Four of the 1 1 speakers at the
hearing came to voice support for
the museum. Others asked increased
funding for volunteer fire depart
ments, the Resources Development
Commission, the Volunteer and
Information Center, Hope Harbor
Home and the proposed Oak Island
Library
At the commissioners' regular
meeting Monday, one other agency
appealed to the board. The Bruns
No. 727
A.F. & A.M.
A Stated Communication of
Shallotte Lodge No. 727 will be
held Tuesday, June 9. 1992, at
8:00 p.m. at 5072 Main Street,
Shallotte. All qualified Master
Masons are invited to attend.
By order of the Master.
get.
SHALLOTTE
LODGE
wick County Literacy Council
thanked the board for including the
same SI ,500 allocation as it received
last year, but Coordinator Gladys
Wagenscil said the not-for-profit
agency had hoped for an increase.
Albert Huff of Lcland, a disabled,
single parent of three and a student
in the council's onc-on-one tutoring
program, said other members of his
extended family need similar ser
vices. He told commissioners, "The
more help they get from you the
more help they can give my family
to get out of the gutter. We need to
put more into means of learning so
they can better themselves and get
off (public assistance)."
Before the close of Monday's
meeting, Commissioner Gene Pink
cnon referred to the Maritime Mus
eum, Literacy Council and requests
for a fourth library branch and
urged fellow board members as they
study the budget, to remember that
"a lot of what we are hearing is a cry
for more education of the people in
Brunswick County," he said.
"I feel we need to support the
schools, but 1 don't think that is the
only form of education in the coun
ty. I would like to sec some of these
other things supported."
After the budget hearing last
Thursday, Kelly Holdcn, chairman
of the county commissioners, said
he would recommend that the board
maintain its SI 0,000 allocation for
the Southport museum instead of re
ducing it by 50 percent as recom
mended in the budget plan.
"I think they're due another 10,"
Holdcn said.
He said he felt the county should
give the sanie level of support to the
Southport museum that it gave the
Museum of Coastal Carolina in
Ocean Isle Beach during its first two
years of operation.
The first to request restored fund
ing for the maritime museum was
Susan Kaufman of Southport, who
said she felt the facility was one rea
son the city had been sclccted as one
of 30 finalists in competition for the
"All American Cities" award. She
said Southport was the smallest city
ever considered and felt much of the
reason was its varied cultural attrac
tions, such as the museum
"We may be unable to open if
these funds aren't restored," she
said. "Can you imagine the abject
humiliation we would suffer if we
get into the top three with no muse
um?"
Pauline Swain of Southport, an
elementary school volunteer, said
"The children of Southport are very
anxious to have this open."
The museum should be consid
ered a resource for the entire county
and supported as such, she said.
Anoihcr Southport resident, Cecil
Rhodes, said the county "will more
than gel its money back" on its
funding for the museum. He said a
recent visil to the city by two cruise
ships indicates increased tourist in
terest in the area, which will be en
hanced by the maritime museum. A
Any Style. Any Color.
Any Fabric. $279.
To Review Proposed County Budget
similar attraction in Beaufort has
done much to attract boaters to that
city, he said.
"The potential is very, very
large," Rhodes said. "1 don't see
how we can let this opportunity
pass. To reduce funding at this time
would snatch the rug out from under
the museum effort."
Scheduled to open June 27, the
Southport Maritime Museum is the
result of a non-profit effort to create
a repository for information and arti
facts relating to the history of ship
ping and other maritime activities in
the Cape Fear area.
Also speaking at the hearing
were:
?Volunteer firemen Warren W. Fra
zicr and A1 Nord, who asked the
commissioners to increase the coun
ty's planned allocation of SI 3,500 to
each of Brunswick's volunteer fire
departments. Frazicr said Leland
firefighters needed upgraded equip
ment to properly protect their rapid
ly growing community. Nord, who
is a Civictown VFD member said
the county's new 911 communica
tions program required his depart
ment to spend SI, 000 for equipment.
He asked the county to appropriate
SI, (XX) more to each department.
?Robert Williams, vice chairman of
Brunswick Items On Board Agendo
Requests for more money for two projects related to the widening of
U.S. 17 through Brunswick County is on the agenda when the State
Board of Transportation meets Friday in Raleigh.
Staff is asking for another S50.000 in state money for construction on
the U.S. 17 bypass of Shallotte from west of Old Shallotte Road (S R.
1316) to east of Red Bug Road (S.R. 1 136), a distance of 4.8 miles.
Spokesman Bill Jones said the money is needed to cover cost over
runs. The board had previously allocated S4.8 million for the project
Also, another request seeks an additional SI 0,000 to re fleet the new
estimated cost of preliminary engineering work on U.S. 17 from N.C.
211 at Supply to the South Carolina state line, a distance of 21.3 miles.
Previously S1.6 million had been approved for this worit.
In other business, the board is expected to approve a $45,000 line
item for rcgrading of a section from Blue Bank Loop Road (S.R. 1422) to
the Columbus County line.
Funds for paving and related work on a 2.1 -mile section of Town
Creek Road (S.R. 14 13 A) are to be reduced by S40.000.
The board meets at 9 a.m. in Room 150 of the Highway Building in
downtown Raleigh.
the Resources Development Com
mission, who asked the board to re
store the proposed S23.815 reduc
tion in its funding. He said the com
mission was directly responsible for
attracting more than 500 new jobs to
the county.
?Cathy Swaim, director of the Hope
Harbor Home domestic violence
shelter, who requested increased
county funding to offset S25.000 in
losses suffered when granLs to the
program were not refunded. She
said more money also is needed for
a planned batterers' counseling pro
gram.
?Oak Island Library Boosters
President Ann Hincs, who asked the
county to appropriate "our fair
share" of the library budget to help
establish a fourth branch on Oak
Island.
\
TO
Dear Friends,
Over the last 4-1/2 years I have had the pleasure of
serving this community as a physician. I brought with me a
desire to practice the highest standard of medicine, as a
loving and caring human being who was also trained in the
specialty of Family Practice.
My philosophy of medicine holds the doctor to be an
educator? the true definition of the word doctor. 1 have
attempted in that role of educator to practice preventive
medicine, as well as therapeutic intervention. 1 have an
abiding belief in the biblical phrase that tells us it is better
to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish.
1 have attempted to demonstrate my belief in good health
maintenance by practicing that which I preach. There have
been occasions in which my alliances have been in discord
with this philosophy; projects started that will not be
completed. Yes, there are some regrets.
For the most part, it has been extremely gratifying to
experience the warm acceptance of what appeared to be in
this area at least, a non-traditional medical practice. In the
end, it is clear that we all share the same goals of an
improved quality of life.
If now becomes necessary for me to move the basis of my
practice, and my office in Village Pines will be closing
effective July 1, 1992. For the honored patients in my
practice who wish to continue with me, 1 welcome t he
opportunity to discuss these plans further. Please contact
my office or my home at your convenience. For those
individuals with whom my association in a patient-doctor
relationship shall end, 1 thank you for the pleasure of that
acquaintance. With my most sincere regards...
Marilyn ftoehm, MD, PhD
C199? THE BRUNSWICK BTACON
)