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Dedication...
I A new ferry is named after the
last governor from Brunswick
(County. Page 7-A
Thirtieth j^^or, Number 35
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Lm:
Supplement Included in this Issue.
12/31/99 WO
HOAG & SONS BOOK BINDERY
P.O. BOX 162
SPRINGPORT MI 49284
C 1992 TMf B?oS5W C< 81 AC ON
Shqllotte, North Corol
Happy 4th!
See Page 4-B for a
calendar of N.C. Fourth
of July Festival events.
Scions Including, Supplement, 5 InseVts
Dredging
Money
Is Short
BY DOUG RUTTER
Holden Bcach Harbor property
owners will have to reach deeper in
u> uicii pockcis 1 1 they're interested
in having their canals dredged this
fall.
They only have three more weeks
to come up with about 573,000 in
voluntary payments for the work.
Charlie Pahl, who represents
Holden Beach Harbor on the town's
canal dredging committee, said lot
owners had paid 527,000 as of last
week.
Town commissioners had agreed
to help coordinate the dredging, but
asked property owners to pay at
least two-thirds of the projcct cost in
advance.
They set a July 22 deadline for
the lot owners to come up with
5100,000 of the 5150,000 projected
cost
Town officials haven't decided
what they'll do it property owners
don't come up with enough money
by the deadline.
Plans call for the dredging of all
nine finger canals and the feeder and
entrance canals in Holden Bcach
Harbor.
At its meeting last Wednesday,
the town board passed a resolution
setting forth plans to assess lot own
ers for 100 percent of the project
cost
A public hewing on the prelimi
nary assessment resolution is sched
uled for Wednesday, July 22, at 7
p.m. in the town hall.
Pahl said last week he was still
negotiating with the Corps of
Engineers to get the permit needed
for dredging.
Meanwhile, commissioners have
started talking about plans to dredge
the entrance canal in Heritage
Harbor subdivision.
"We're anxious to be in a position
to get our dredging done this fall,"
said Heritage Harbor Property
Owners Association Chairman John
Broadnax.
Town Manager Gary Parker and
Broadnax are working on a schedule
for voluntary payments from lot
owners.
Broadnax expects the small-scale
dredging project to cost about
518,000. He has a dredging permit
and said the 30 lots in the neighbor
hood that don't front on a canal will
not have to help pay for the project.
Ted Rivenbark said the entrance
channel in Harbor Acres probably
won't need dredging until next win
ter or the fall of 1994.
Ordinance Tabled
Conccms about the number of af
fected properties prompted the town
(See DREDGING, Page 2-A)
STAfF PHOTO BY DOUG RUVTCft
Surf's Up!
Brett Fulford of H olden Beach catches a wave near H olden Beach
Fishing Pier last Friday evening. Strong winds out of the south
made conditions just right for surfers.
Interest In Incorporating
s Seaside Picking Up Steam
BY SUSAN USHER
A group of residents interested in preserving
Seaside's identity as one of the area's oldest communi
ties are seeking support for its incorporation as a town.
A meeting will be held today (Thursday) at 7:30
p.m. in the Coastal Auction building on N.C. 179 that
formerly housed Island Supply.
Joe Huber, a member of the steering committee lead
ing the effort, said Seaside is the oldest community in
the area. Like V amain town, he said, it has a history and
unique identity that warrant preserving through incorpo
ration.
"We don't want to lose that identity," he sa'd.
Seaside is a small community along N.C. 179 that
now has as its neighbors two towns, Ocean Isle Beach
and Sunset Beach. Once dominated The idea has gained
support in the community since serious feelers were first
extended in April, mainly by word of mouth. Huber said
29 people attended the first meeting on the issue while a
second meeting last month drew 37, all supporters.
Proposed boundaries closely foiiow ilic area tradx
tionally known as Seaside. The line begins at Seaside
Road, at the N.C. 179/N.C. 904 intersection, and follows
the south side of Dale Drive east, doglegging north
around natural boundaries, to Kennedy Drive, then south
to the waterway and back to Seaside Road.
"We want to keep the boundaries simple and within
the old community known as Seaside," said Huber.
Steering committee members are also proposing a
different approach to self-government that would pro
vided more citizen involvenent-a mayor-council with
town meeting format. Major decisions, such as exten
sion of a new service or adoption of a budget, would
have to be voted on not by the council alone, but by vote
of the town's registered voters.
While non-resident property owners will not be eli
gible to vote, they could submit items to the council and
townspeople for consideration, he said, and could attend
town meetings.
The town meeting format is used with success in
several mountain townj in North Carolina, he said, but
"is unheard of down here."
Steering committee members are working with a lo
cal lawyer to prepare the required documents and have
met with Rep. David Redwine to find out the procedures
necessary io pursue incurpuraiion through the state leg
islature. Among other things, Redwine requires commu
nities to hold several public meetings and then a referen
dum on incorporation.
Huber said the group will have at least two more
meetings after today'?, with Rep. Redwine present to an
swer questions.
Gary Hendrix is chairman of the steering committee.
In addition to Huber and Hendrix, other members arc
Buck Thorpe, Edna Ludlum, Barbara Perrone, Malcolm
King and Jimmy Gore.
If Seaside were to be incorporatcd-someiime in
1993 at the earliest-it would become Brunswick
County's 18th municipality.
VACATIONERS ESCAPE
Condos Damaged,
Cars Destroyed
In Ocean Isle Fire
BY MARJORIE MEGIVERN
lommy Walker and his faiiiily iitni been
vacationing at Myrtle Beach, S.C., for sever
al years when they decided this summer to
travel from their Albemarle home to try the
"family atmosphere" of Ocean Isle Beach
(OIB).
Their week on the beach was scarcely un
der way, however, when it was interrupted by
fire. A blaze beginning about 3 a.m. Monday
spread from parking spaccs under their
Starboard by the Sea condominium, forcing
them, along with 21 others, out into the night.
Others evacuated from Building 21 includ
ed 13 members of the Cozart family, haling
froiTi Shcibv, Salisbury, 1 11 .v." ruini and
Raleigh, and Mrs. Gerry Loflin's family of
seven from Sherrill's Ford.
Twenty-lour hours laier, these other vaca
tioners had rented cars and returned home;
only the Walkers remained for the week.
Their group included a daughter and son-in
law, and a 15-year-old daughter and her
friend.
Damages to four condos in Building 21
and complete destruction of two vans and one
car amounted to an estimated $250,000 value,
estimated OIB Volunteer Fire Chief Terry
Barbcc. Because gypsum board was used in
ine ceiling of the parking spate, ilic spicuu of
names was slowed.
"They went up through wiring chases and
the common wall," Darbee said. This con
fined damage to the effects of heal and smoke
in two of the units, and flames around the
sliding glass doors of the living rooms in
units adjoining and above the fire were quick
ly extinguished.
Origin of the blaze had not yet been deter
mined at press lime, but Bar bee said it started
"in the area of the Aerostar van parked be
neath the unit"
Walker, a former volunteer fireman, said |
he iimi smciicu iivA wires about an hour be- I
fore he awoke and heard "hollering in die
parking lot."
"1 looked out my window and saw smoke
from underneath us," he said, "and I woke
everybody up.
"My wife said, 'Let me get my pocket
book,' but 1 said, 'To heck with your pocket
book,' and we just got out and left everything
in the condo."
Sleepers in the other three units were
aroused by a neighbor and all escaped without
(See SHAKEN, Page 2-A)
BY SUSAN USHER
An incident Monday morning at the Sunset
Beach Bridge has Brunswick County
Emergency Management Coordinator Cecil
Logan concerned because of a delay there that
could have been avoided.
The incident also raises questions about the
procedures followed in determining wh n to
open the bridge to waterway traffic.
Sunset Beach firefighters had just returned
from assisting at a fire at Ocean Isle Beach
and were at the fire station putting away
equipment when a call of their own came in.
At a house on Sailfish Drive, a youngster
had dropped a lighted smoke bomb from the
porch of a cottage. It fell into pampas grass,
which ignited, said Logan, whose son, Keith,
is chief of the Sunset Beach VFD.
Incident Raises
Questions About Bridge
Openings
Firefighters head out immediately, but were
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Under a schedule jet by the N.C.
Department of Transportation, the brid
getender is to open the span to waterway traf
fic only at the top of the hour, for commercial
vessels as needed and in the event of emergen
cies.
However, when the Sunset Beach YFD
members got to the bridge at a approximately
8:20 a.m., said Logan, it was open, and not for
a commercial vessel, but for a large, pleasure
type craft The firefighters had to wait seven
minutes before they could cross to the island.
Normally the VFD or any local rescue unit
bound for the island notifies the bridge by ra
dio, but in this case they had not, said Logan,
because they expected the bridge to be open to
u/?hl/,u1ir traffic
? ViMrviMia m umw ?
"At the fire station we had a clear view of
the waterway; we knew there was no commer
cial traffic waiting at the bridge, just the plea
sure boat. Not a shrimp boat or tug. We didn't
see a need to call."
"If it had not been for a volunteer firefighter
on the island grabbing a water hose, " contin
ued Logan, "we could have lost that house and
possibly two or three more the way the wind
was blowing."
As it was, only the grass burned.
No one from the state Department of
Transportation's bridge division could be
reached for comment, but the incident nu?y re
late to a shortcut some boaters are taking to
get the bridgetender to open the pontoon
bridge between regularly scheduled hourly
openings.
When asked aboul the incident after a
Sunset Beach Town Council meeting Monday
night. Town Administrator Linda Fluegel sa:.d
boaters have learned to identify themselves as
commercial when approaching the bridge.
"All they have to say is, 'We sell from our
boat,' she said, "and they open the bridge just
like that."
While favoring construction of a high-rise
bridge to the island for improved emergency
response, Logan wants the existing system to
work in the meantime, with all parties follow
ing the procedures established.
For his part, he plans to call the bridge
ahead next lime, whether the need is apparent
or not
Illegal Dumpers Force
County Crackdown
BY ERIC CARLSON
Hew would you like to come to
work in the morning and find a large
pile of stinking garbage blocking the
front door of your office?
That's what James "Bunt"
Simmons puts up with almost every
day when he arrives at his job as
manager of the Oxpen waste dispos
al and recycling site off N.C. 130
between Shallotte and Holden
Beach.
"This is how it looks every morn
ing," Simmons said last Thursday as
he waited for a truck and loader to
remove a half-ton of bagged garbage
piled just outside the chain-link
fence gate.
Simmons works for Waste
Industries Inc., of Wilmington,
which is under contract with
Brunswick County to haul garbage
and collcct recyclable items. The
company operates three solid waste
transfer stations and two "conve
nience centers" like the one at
Oxpen.
When the convenience sites were
operated by the county, they were
unmanned and open 24 hours a day,
seven days a week. Because of
stricter state and federal regulations
on solid waste disposal, the county
decided to contract with Waste
Industries to manage the trash sites.
But since the county couldn't af
ford around-the-clock staffing,
opening hours were established to
regulate when residents could de
posit their household trash and recy
clables. Beginning in March the
convenience sites were kept open
until 7 p.m., seven days a week,
with varying morning hours, for a
total of 62.5 hours.
That's when the trouble began,
said County Engineer Robert
Tucker. Many residents and visitors
who use the dump sites ignored the
opening hours and simply left their
garbage outside the locked fence.
Some went to even greater lengths
to keep the sites open.
"The first day we put up the gate
someone tried to force it open with a
vehicle," Tucker said. "When they
fAimrl a??? if . : - - * ?
(See TRASH, Page 2-A)
OPERATING HOuas
Tltf THUR 10:30 -7:00
FRl y0N T:30 -7:00
$AT r& ?7;0?
SUNDAY 11:00 -7:00
*TAPF PHOTO ?r t*IC CARLSON
SITE MANAGER James Simmons stands amid the piles of garbage illegally dumped outside the gate at the Oxpen solid waste conve
nience site Thursday morning.