Making Better Crads
local educators visit a successful Tech prep
program for ideas. Page 10-A.
Run, Jump, Throw
Two West Brunswick track stars shine in
conference field events. Page 9-B.
THE r
17/3I/99 **P0
HO AG & SONS BOOK BINDERY
|pRINGPORTb" MI A9284
No Small Feat
A Calabash merchant is Brunswick's Small
Business Person of the Year. Page 9-C.
Thirty-First Year, Number 25 macon Shallotte, North Carolina, Thursday, May 13, 1993 50c Per Copy 38 Pages, 3 Sections, 2 Inserts
Health Board To Enforce
Rental Occupancy Limits
BY ERIC CARLSON
Property owners who rent beach cottages to more
people than the septic systems are designed to accom
modate may face criminal penalties if they refuse to re
duce occupancy or upgrade the unit's waste water treat
ment capacity. ??
That's the message the Bruns
wick County Board of Health vot
ed unanimously to send by certi
fied mail to more than 75 percent
of the county's vacation rental
property owners Monday night.
All Brunswick County's beach
towns except Ocean Isle rely on in
dividual septic tanks for waste
water disposal. Most Ocean Isle
cottages arc served by the town's
municipal sewer system.
Environmental Health Supervi
sor Andrew Robinson asked the
board to authorize the mailing after
a study by his department revealed that a large majority
of rental agencies in the county have been advertising
that cottages can sleep more renters than the number for
which septic systems arc permitted.
He said the study was done by comparing septic tank
permits with occupancy levels advertised in 1993 rental
brochures.
"This is not just
something we
dreamed up. We are
strictly enforcing
state regulations..."
?Andrew Robinson
Environmental Supervisor
Septic lank permits for most homes and cottages
specify a maximum capacity of two persons per bed
room, Robinson said Monday. He produced copies of
brochures advertising that most rental cottages hold
more than that number for each bedroom.
Listings for four-bedroom cot
tages frequently advertise that the
units will sleep 10 or more people,
Robinson noted. A five-bedroom
cottage with a legal septic capacity
of 10 was advertised for occupancy
by up to 17 people.
While the advertisements are not
against the law, Robinson said rent
ing the cottages to the number of
occupants advertised is illegal. He
said the N.C. Real Estate Com
mission recognizes advertised ac
commodations as the occupancy
level regulated by septic system per
mitting.
Robinson said the violation notices will be mailed "in
the very near future" to every property owner who has
advertised an occupancy level in excess of the septic
permit. He estimated that "more than 75 percent" of the
rental cottages advertised in the county are in violation.
The notices inform property owners that the health
(See RENTAL, Page 2-A)
Soles Asks
On His Bill
House Not To Act
To Split Calabash
BY ERIC CARLSON
Slate Senator R.C. Soles has
asked a N.C. House subcommittee
to withhold action on his legislation
to split the town of Calabash into
two neighboring municipalities.
In a letter to Calabash Mayor
Doug Simmons, read at Tuesday
night's board of commissioners
Inside...
Birthdays ..... 2B
Business News 9-IOC
Calendar of Events 6A
Church News 13A
Classified 1-8C
Court Docket 8A,11C
Crime Report 9A
Fishing 12C
Golf 11B
Obituaries 13A
Opinion 4-5A
People In The News... J5B
Plant Doctor 3B
Sports .8-12B
Television 6-7B
meeting, Soles noted that his bill
"has passed the Senate and is now
awaiting action in the House of
Representatives," where it has been
assigned to the Committee on Local
and Regional Government I.
"It has come to my attention that
certain things arc taking place in
Calabash which may go a long way
toward resolving the dissatisfaction
which has existed in the area be
tween the residents of Old Calabash
and those in Carolina Shores," Soles
wrote.
"I have therefore concluded that it
would be in the best interest of
Calabash if no further action were
taken at this time," he said.
The letter said he had written to
the house committee chairman re
questing that his bill "be held in that
committee without action until fur
ther request from me."
Soles' legislation calls for a refer
endum in Calabash that would re
move the old town of Calabash from
the current municipality if a majori
ty of voters in either district support
the idea. If the split is approved, it
also allows the voters in Carolina
Shores (District 2) to form their own
municipality.
The senator has said he intro
duced the legislation because of ir
reconcilablc differences between the
original residents of old Calabash
and those in the golf and retirement
community of Carolina Shores. The
two voted to form a single town in a
1989 referendum.
However, Calabash commission
ers from both districts recently voted
unanimously to condemn Soles' bill.
Mayor Simmons, a lifelong
Calabash resident also has voiced
strong opposition to the split.
None of the commissioners who
attended Tuesday's meeting could
explain what Soles meant when he
said that "certain things" are taking
place in Calabash that could help re
solve the "dissatisfaction" between
the districts.
"I haven't the faintest idea," said
Commissioner Jon Sanborn, a senti
ment echoed by the other board
members.
In other business the board agreed
to pay half the cost of a joint effort
with Sunset Beach for the prepara
tion of construction drawings and
(See CALABASH, Page 2-A)
Holder* Workers Resign After Suspension
Holden Beach's public works superintendent and newspapers, and I'm going to wait and see what kind
another town employee resigned last week after being of response 1 get," Parker said Tuesday.
suspended without pay by the town manager. Holden Beach's public works superintendent is
Superintendent Jim Holt and public works em- responsible for the maintenance of town streets, the
ployee David Hair both resigned effective May 4 "for water system, vehicles and heavy equipment. He also
personal reasons," according to Town Manager Gary oversees sanitation, according to an advertisement in
Parker. the Beacon.
Parker suspended the two employees without pay Parker is accepting applications through May 21
on April 23. Both men had worked for the town for for the superintendent's position. The salary range is
approximately two years. 520,768 to $29,225, depending on experience.
Parker and other town officials have refused to Meanwhile, the resignations have left the town
disclose the reason for the suspensions, citing a state with two temporary public works employees. Parker
law that limits the type of information that can be re- said he hired a temporary worker, and one of the aux
leased from public employee files. iliary police officers also is helping out. "Most of the
"I'm recruiting now for both positions through time we've had four men still working," he said.
STAFF PHOTO BY ERJC CARLSON
Supper On The Hook
Charlie Keaton of Supply brings in another Spanish mackerel from the Holden Beach Fishing Pier
Tuesday morning. Warmer waters have brought back the fish and the fishermen. To find out what
they've been catching, see Page 12-C.
Police Raid Club Where Nude
Girls Filmed In Dance Contest
BY ERIC CARLSON
The owner and manager of a
Leland nightclub, where teenage
girls competed in sexually explicit
dance contests, were arrested early
Monday morning along with a Wil
mington photographer accused of
making and selling obscene video
tapes of the events, according to the
Brunswick County Sheriff's Depart
ment.
Girls as young as 13 years old
were professionally videotaped in
"various acts of simulated sexual ac
tivity" while dancing in one of 17
weekly "rump-shaker" contests held
at the Club New World on Sawmill
Road. Copies of the tapes were sold
at Al's Audio and Visual Pro
ductions on 13th Street, Wilming
ton, police said.
Club New World owner John
Dudley Bryant, 50, and manager
Antonio Burgess, 29, both of Route
1, Leland, were arrested when offi
cers of the sheriff's department, the
N.C. State Bureau of Investigation
and N.C. Alcohol Law Enforcement
raided the club shortly after the
dance contest "grand finale" Sunday
night Authorities also picked up
photographer Allen Faulkner Rich
ardson, 28, in Wilmington.
The arrests culminated an investi
gation that began Feb. 18, when
Brunswick DcL Nancy Simpson met
with a woman who said her brother
had been to the Club New World
and watched a film of a "rump-shak
er" contest that was being shown on
a widc-screen television. The man
had recognized his two 13-year-old
nieces dancing while dressed only in
bras and panties.
The "Rump-Shaker" is a dance
and popular song performed by the
rap group Wreckx-N-Effect.
The woman told Simpson that she
confronted her daughter about the
dancing and teamed that the girl had
entered the contest in an effort to
win a $200 first prize. The woman
also told Simpson that she had
found nude pictures of her daughter.
Simpson interviewed the girl,
who admitted entering the contest
and said that many of the contestants
removed all of their clothes during
the competition. She also told Simp
son that an employee of the club
takes pictures of the girls for SS, and
that she had her picture taken by this
employee "with her pants pulled
down to her knees."
About two weeks later, an ALE
agent went to Al's Video Production
and purchased a packaged and la
beled videotape titled "Rump-Sha
ker Contest" for $35. Simpson
watched the tape and identified the
13-year-old girl she had interviewed.
Simpson also identified a 17-year
old friend of the girl who was danc
ing nude and "simulating sexual ac
(See OBSCENITY, Page 2-A)
Shallotte Aldermen
Eye Rules Restricting
Adult Entertainment Businesses
BY DOUG RUTTER
If a business like The Crazy Horse or
Thee Doll House in nearby North Myrtle
Beach, S.C., ever tries to come to Shalloue,
town officials plan to have rules in place
limiting where it could locate and how it
could operate.
Town aldermen could adopt an adult en
tertainment ordinance as soon as next
Tuesday that would include licensing re
quirements for such businesses and prohibit
them from locating near homes, churches or
schools.
Alderman Morris Hall first suggested last
month that the town board adopt regulations
before a topless bar or similar establishment
tries to set up shop in Shalloue.
"I haven't heard a thing about anyone
coming to town," Hall said in a telephone
interview Monday. "1 just thought we ought
to have an ordinance before the businesses
come to town."
Hall said he has been reading about an
ongoing controversy over a topless bar in
Carolina Beach. "What I'm thinking is it
just would draw the wrong crowd," he said.
At last week's town meeting, aldermen
decided to postpone adoption of (he nine
page ordinance until they discuss it with
Town Attorney Mark Lewis.
Lewis' law partner, Michael Ramos,
drafted the rules being considered by the
Shallotte board for the Town of Calabash,
where they have been in effect since May
1990.
Under the ordinance, adult entertainment
establishments are defined as clubs used for
any "presentation depicting, exhibiting or
describing specified sexual activities or
specified anatomical areas for observation
"I haven't heard a thing
about anyone coming to
town. I just thought we
ought to have an
ordinance before the
businesses come to
town"
?Alderman Morris Hall
by patrons."
The specified sexual activities include
genitals in a state of sexual stimulation or
arousal, masturbation, sexual intercourse,
sodomy, fondling or other crolic touching.
Specified anatomical areas include ex
posed genitals, pubic region, buttocks, anus
and female breasts. Also included are male
genitals in a "discernible turgid state," even
if covered.
Falling under the proposed regulations
would be book stores, theaters, video stores,
peep shows, model studios, sexual encounter
centers, massage parlors, escort services and
motels.
Those types of businesses would have to
be at least 1,000 feet from any residential
zoning district, church, day care center,
school, park, library or cemetery.
Hall admits that wouldn't leave much of
an area where adult entertainment business
es could be located in Shallotte.
The Shallotte Planning Board would re
view the proposed location of all adult enter
tainment establishments. Its approval would
be required to get a certificate of zoning
compliance or building permit.
Adult entertainment businesses would
have to allow inspection by county and town
officials any time they are open. Business
hours would be limited to 4 p.m. until mid
night.
The proposed ordinance also would re
strict the number and types of signs allowed
outside the building and require adequate
parking for employees and patrons.
A temporary use permit would be needed
to stage any adult entertainment shows?
such as wet T-shirt contests?in businesses
that conduct such contests less than 12 times
per year.
The business owner would have to apply
for the permit 30 days in advance of the
event and pay a S250 permit fee.