Newspapers / The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, … / April 29, 1993, edition 1 / Page 2
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p I ** I * 1 f* SlAff rHOTO BY SUSAN USHER ROY ANDERSON, vice president of the Brunswick Nuclear Plant at Southport, briefs reporters on CP&L's plans to return Unit 2 to service in the near future. Once the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Agency gives the go-ahead, the utility plans to take between 20 and 40 days to slowly bring the unit to full gen erating power. Reactor,; Out A Year, To Go Back On Line (Continued From Page 1-A) have a combined generating capaci ty of 1,580,000 kilowatts when op erating at 100 percent. During the outage. General Electric technicians have checked out and rebuilt the tur bines, with the goal of getting the plant to 100 percent capacity. Mean while CP&L has been buying elec tricity from other sources. Anderson said that "well before" the shutdown the plant could only run at about 80 percent of capacity because of linkage problems. "The plant runs best at 100 per cent," he said. "It's tuned to run at that power, that temperature, that pressure." While both units were out of ser vice, CP&L embarked on a major maintenance and upgrading program of the physical plant, increased staff training, and made a series of changes in management of both the plant and the utility's entire nuclear division. Also it also committed to a three-year plan of continued im provement in both plant and opera tions beyond the level outlined in its regular plan of operation. in both routine assessments and special reviews, the NRC had cited management at the Brunswick Plant as the "root cause" of many of its problems over the past 10 years re lating to safety, maintenance and op erations. Ebneter told reporters Monday he thinks CP&L's management restruc turing has addressed that problem. Since last April CP&L has hired William Cavanaugh III as president and chief operating officer, Roy Anderson as vice president of the Brunswick Nuclear Plant, Clay C. Warren as Unit 2 plant general man ager, and C.S. "Scouy" Hinnant as director of site operations, among others. Hinnant is the only veteran CP&L employee. The others, as Ebneter noted, "are all from outside corpora tions and have extensive nuclear ex perience. Many of them come from plants which have gone through similar problems." Anderson, for instance, was at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, Mass., until he became the Brunswick plant's third top ex ecutive in a year's time. Plymouth was at one time on the NRC's watch list of worst-run nuclear reactors in the country, as Brunswick Plant's two reactors arc now. While the Brunswick plant's been idle, workers have made approxi mately 1,700 repairs and improve ments, some of which had been awaiting attention for up to three years. Anderson said that backlog has been pared to 1,400 items, or 70 days of work. Of those items only 61 arc safety-related, and he said none needs immediate attention or poses a personnel or nuclear safety threat. Steve Varga of the NRC's Washington, D.C., office cautioned CP&L officials to move with delib eration, citing recent problems with plant start-ups elsewhere and their impact on NRC staff credibility. "If we experience more at Bruns wick 1 don't know who will suffer more, the Brunswick Plant or (NRC) staff," he said. "If Brunswick runs into significant problems with start up it could serious impact on Brunswick's status and there is the question of whether we (the NRC) should have been aware of those problems." Replied Hinnant, "We realize, and have briefed our staff, that this needs to be the cleanest, smoothest start-up Brunswick has experienced. We re alize we are in a glass fish bowl." Storm Aid Coming From Feds (Continued From Page 1-A) tails of this and see what else might be included," he said. Logan said he had expected a de claration sooner and had been confi dent the county would receive some measure of federal aid. "The assess ment people who came down told us that if anybody got it, we would, be cause we had sustained the most damage of any county along the coast" The federal government has not ruled on the state's request for a ma jor disaster declaration, which would provide assistance to individ uals and businesses. Logan said he personally believes Brunswick County will qualify for some type of assistance for busi nesses through the Small Business Administration, but that he is less optimistic about assistance for pri vatc individuals. "Wc really didn't sustain that much damage to private residences," said Logan, noting that most beach cottages are rentals, not permanent homes, and qualify as businesses. According to the N.C. Depart ment of Crime Control and Public Safety, debris removal is defined as clearing downed trees and other wreckage caused by the storm. Emergency protective measures include such actions as calling in ad ditional police, fire or emergency personnel to cope with the storm and its aftermath. The state is also waiting to hear from the U.S. Department of Commerce whether it will be al lowed to use unspent federal money from North Carolina's Hurricane Hugo disaster relief effort. Now that a declaration is in effect ? *^i. M ? VUI here, officials of the Federal Em ergency Management Agency will publicize the relief available. Eli gible groups, which include munici pal and county governments, private non-profit agcncies that provide government services, and rural electrification concerns such as Brunswick Electric Membership Corp., will then file an application or a "notice of interest". Damage survey teams will then inspect financial records and write a "damage survey report." Once the report is signed, the federal govern ment will reimburse 75 percent of eligible disaster-related expenses. Other eastern counties to qualify under Tuesday's declaration includ ed Columbus, New Hanover, Beau fort, Carteret, Craven, Dare, Hyde, Lenoir and Pamlico. - ~?5 ST*ff PHOTO BY HIC CARLSON ARSON was blamed for two fires thai destroyed this mobile home and damaged another on Riverview Road in Calabash April 14. A third suspicious fire leveled another nearby trailer last Wednesday night (April 21). Hearing Speakers Like Sewer Plan (Continued From Page 1-A) engineers used to reach their conclu sion that septic tanks are polluting waters around the island. She also asked for assurance that the stormwater management component would be part of the plan. Hunt, reporting to the SBTA earli er this month, accused the engineers of presenting "inaccurate and in complete" preliminary data regard ing water pollution. The engineers, in their final environmental report, countered that "many of the town's property owncrs...have been ex Calabash Asks Attorney For Action Over Sian BY ERIC CARLSON Calabash has asked its town attor ney to lake legal action for alleged sign violations against another law yer, who claims he has been ha rassed and threatened by the town's building inspector. At the request of Building inspector Edward Schaack, the Calabash Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday night to direct their attorney, Michael Ra mos, to take action against Benedict Del Re, a local lawyer and property owner who Schaack claims has failed to properly repair a sign dam aged in the March 13 storm. In the same vote, Ramos was also told to take similar steps against the owners of Mama Brava's Pizza res taurant for installing what Schaack called "a temporary sign" in a com mercial complex owned by Del Re. During a lengthy presentation at Fired Employee On the same day that Interim County Manager John Harvey an nounced that he had created a new county position and hired a fired employee for the job, another fired employee filed civil papers an nouncing his intent to file a lawsuit if he is not reinstated with back pay. An attorney for Rudy B. Benton, who was fired in 1989 from his po sition as building and grounds main tenance technician, filed an applica tion with the cleric of court April 19 for an extension of lime to file a complaint against the county. The extension was granted, allow ing Benton's lawyer until May 10 to tile a complaint "for reinstatement to former position of employee dis missed without cause and without following county personnel policy; for money damages for back wages and for violation of constitutional rights..." No specific amount of money damages were ouUined in the appli cation. Leland lawyer R. Glenn Peterson, who is representing Benton, said Tuesday that the action was "a pre liminary step toward filing suit against the county for reinstatement to his position." Noting that the county now has a new attorney, Peterson said the no tice was given in hopes that "things might get worked out" before a suit is filed. But he would offer no de tails regarding his client's griev ances. "The county attorney and I are discussing the case," Peterson said. "Until such time as our discussions are no longer fruitful, it would be the board's April 13 meeting, Del Re complained that Schaack had or dered workers off his property, made unreasonable demands for improve ments at the complex and threatened to sue Del Re for not complying with his demands. "I'm being picked on," Del Re said. "I have encountered hostility from Mr. Schaack on a daily basis. He has overstepped the bounds of what he was hired to do." Del Re also accused Schaack of a conflict of interest for allegedly of fering his services as a professional engineer to rectify deficiencies in Del Re's buildings that Schaack al legedly discovered while acting as building inspector. Schaack generally denied Del Re's allegations, but chose not to de fend himself in public at the April 13 meeting. He asked instead to ex plain his position to the board in a Threatens Suit premature to discuss it." Most details of a county employ ee's personnel file are required to be kept confidential by state law. Hiring and firing dales, position classification and salary arc matters of public record. According to Brunswick County Personnel Officer Staric Grissett, Benton was hired March 16, 1987, for a position in the building inspec tion department, which was then a division of the planning department. He was later transferred to the build ing and grounds department and ter minated Dec. 11, 1989 at a salary of 514,734. THE BRUNSWIW&EACON Established Nov. 1,1962 Telephone 754-6890 Published Every Thursday At 4709 Main Street Shallot te, N.C. 28459 SUBSCRIPTION RATES IN BRUNSWICK COUNTY One Year $10.36 Six Months $5.55 ELSEWHERE IN NORTH CAROLINA One Year $14 .86 Six Months $7.90 ELSEWHERE IN U.S.A. One Year $15.95 Six Months $8.35 Second class postage paid at Shallotte, N.C. 28459. USPS 777 780. Postmaster, send address changes to: P.O. Box 2558, Shallotte, N.C. 28459-2558 closed session. He said Del Re had failed to com ply with the building code's require ment that he first provide "a design and stress diagram" for approval be fore repairing his damaged sign to ensure that that the completed struc ture will comply with the ordinance. Instead of submitting the required plan, Del Re used bags of concrete to make makeshift repairs on the damaged sign, Schaack said. The commissioners took no ac tion on Del Re's complaint and di rected him to request a variance from the zoning board of adjust ment. Mama Brava's owner Debora Mawji also was asked to take her appeal for a larger sign to the adjust ment board. At Tuesday night's meeting, Schaack told the board that neither of the two sign owners had filed a request for an adjustment hearing. He asked for the board's guidance in how to proceed. Turn it over to Mike (Ramos)," said Commissioner George Ander son. A quick vote was taken in which all members voted to approve Anderson's suggestion. In other business the board: ?Voted unanimously to approve a requested zoning change for proper ty at the corner of Country Club Road and U.S. 17 owned by James J. Stoffel. Portions of the tract origi nally zoned residential were re-des ignated for highway commercial use and planned unit development The town planning board twice voted to recommend the changes, which were the subject of two public hear ings. ?Accepted a bid from American Refuse Systems of MurreH's Inlet, S.C., to install and service "Igloo" recycling bins the town's recycling center. Based on passed usage, the company estimated that the service would cost the town about S780 per month. Approval of the ARS bid was recommended in a study by Jerry Dale, who set up the town's original recycling program. ?Discussed the need for a thor ough engineering study of the town's drainage system. Com missioner Ray Card said both dis tricts of the town "are looking at a major revamping of drainage ditch es." He noted that steady develop ment has increased stormwater runoff and deteriorated existing ditches. No action was taken. ?Heard an announcement from Planning Board Chairman A1 Smith that the board has cut back on its meeting schedule for the summer months. Between May and September, the planning board will meet once monthly on the second Monday of the month. HOW TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE BRUNSWICK#BEACON POST OFFICE BOX 2558 w * SHALLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA 28459 NOTICE: Reliable or consistent delivery cannot be guaranteed since this newspaper must rely on the U.S. Postal Service tor delivery. We can only guarantee that your newspaper will be submitted to the post office in Shallotte on Wednesday of the week of publication, in time for dispatch to out-of-town addresses that day. ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: Sf. Citizen In Brunswick County 06.30 Q5.30 N.C. Sales Tax .38 .32 Postage Charge 3.68 3.68 TOTAL 10.36 9.30 Elsewhere In North Carolina 06.30 05.30 N.C. Sales Tax .38 .32 Postage Charge 8.18 8.18 TOTAL 14.86 13.80 Outside North Carolina 06.30 05.30 Postage Charge 9.65 9.65 TOTAL 15^95 14.95 Complete And Return To Above Address Name Address City, State Zip L. posed to a considerable amount of innuendo and half-truths by those who had previously formed anti sewer opinions...." Some SBTA leaders?including President Clcte Waldmiller, Hunt and John Watts, who serves on the town's Citizens Advisory Com mittee on Wastewater?have sug gested that the area's pollution prob lems are the result of stormwater runoff and not septic tank overload. They have cautioned against im plementing a $25 to S30 million sewer system without first trying a less expensive stormwater runoff management plan. They also cite academic studies which conclude that septic tanks arc functioning ef fectively along the North Carolina coasL "We started out with a sewer study" commissioned by the town boards of Sunset Beach and Cala bash, engineer Jim Billups told the gathering. "We discovered stormwa ter problems greater than we antici paled." The Brunswick County Board of Health has endorsed the engineers' proposed "regional environmental management program"?a com bined regional sewer and stormwa tcr management system which would be a first on the North Carolina coast. The health board's report to the county commissioners said they did so after considering in formation from both the engineers and the SBTA. The county commissioners, while not agreeing to serve as lead agency for a regional project, have agreed to write GOv. Jim Hunt asking for demonstration funds. Similar letters have been written by Sunset Beach Mayor Mason Barber, Calabash Mayor Doug Simmons and Ocean Isle Beach Betty Williamson. Town boards in Shallotte and Holdcn Beach declined to authorize their mayors to send letters of sup port, though both will be approached again, Billups said. NOW YOUR AD CAN REACH ALL OF NORTH CAROLINA FOR ONLY $ 25 WORDS $6 each additional word N.C. STATEWIDE CLASSIFIEDS BLANKET NORTH CAROLINA OVER 120 NEWSPAPERS (For more information, call this newspaper or...) SIMPLY FILL OUT THIS FORM AND SEND WITH YOUR CHECK. (No Phone Orders. Larger order forms are available from this newspaper.) Name Address Zip Advertising Copy:. 25 Words?$6 each additional word over 25. Word count Telephone numbers (including area code) equal one word Post oltice box numbers as two words, box numbers and route numbers as two words The name ol the city, state and zip code each count as one word Other customary words count as one. SEND TO: THE BRUNSWICK#fEACON CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING DEPT. PO. BOX 2558, SHALLOTTE, NC 28459 (919)754-6890
The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, N.C.)
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April 29, 1993, edition 1
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