Helping Baby Brett
The community rallies to the aid of a family
whose newborn has a rare heart condition.
Page 7-A
TH
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12/31/99 **P0
HOAG & SONS BOOK BINDERY
P.O. BOX 162 .
SPRIN6P0RT MI 49*84
See Irene Jump
A WBHS student caps a brilliant high school
track and field career by winning the
state's triple jump title. Page 9-B.
Thirty-First Year, Number 27 eitw iMt MUNtvnot iucom Shallotte, North Carolina, Thursday, May 27, 1993 50< Per Copy 98 Pages, 4 Sections, 3 Inserts
TAX HIKE 'UNACCEPTABLE'
SlAff FHC ,0 BY |IUC CARLSON
Dangling By A Thread
David Moore, assistant chief of both the Shallotte Volunteer Fire Department and ShaUotte
Rescue Squad, prepares to lower an uaccident victim" to the ground in a rapelting demonstration
featured at an Emergency Services Show in ShaUotte Friday afternoon. Several area volunteer
rescue squads and county EMS personnel participated in the show, which organizers hope to
make an annual event.
Board Dumps Budget
Proposal, Starts Over
BY ERIC CARLSON
In an effort to head off a firestorm
of protest expccted at an upcoming
public hearing, Brunswick County
Commissioners Chairman Don War
ren announced Monday that the
board will scrap most of Interim
County Manager John Harvey's pro
posed budget and develop a new one
that won't raise taxes.
At the first of three budget work
shops scheduled this week. Warren
read a prepared statement calling
Harvey's proposed 10-pcrcent tax
hike "unacceptable." He said the
board would re-work the budget "to
get the tax rate back to (the current
level of) 68 cents per SI00 valua
tion."
Disregarding Harvey's proposed
reorganization of county depart
ments, Warren asked Finance Offic
er Lithia Hahn to prepare estimates
of cach current department's 1992
93 spending. Warren said the board
will use those figures to draft a new
spending proposal, allowing no
more new spending than can be ac
commodated by the present tax rate.
Warren called "totally unaccept
able" Harvey's plan to eliminate the
Resources Development Commis
sion and to make industrial recruit
ment a function of the planning de
partment under Harvey's direction.
"We will continue to have a
Library Board of Trustees," Warren
said, rejecting Harvey's proposal to
eliminate the unpaid advisory board.
The interim manager had suggested
that the library board members
would "better serve the citizens of
Brunswick County" by seeking "en
dorsements and legacies from our
many well-to-do users of the system
to further develop it."
Warren's statement also said Har
vey's recommendation to eliminate
the Parks and Recreation Depart
ment "is not acceptable." In re
sponse to a reporter's question.
Warren said that the deleted position
To Vo/ce
Your Opinion
The Brunswick County Board
of Commissioners will hold a
public hearing on the proposed
1993-94 budget Thursday night
at 7 o'clock in the public assem
bly hall at the county government
complex in Bolivia.
Anyone wishing to speak on
the budget proposal will be re
quired to sign up before the hear
ing. Each speaker will be given
three minutes to address the
board.
Sign-up sheets will be avail
able in the assembly hall begin
ning at 5 p.m. Thursday.
of parks and rccrcalion director, cur
rently held by Bobby "BJ." Jones,
would be put back into the budget.
Harvey's proposal recommended
deleting from the county payroll the
positions held by Jones, his adminis
trative assistant Rcncc Robinson and
Special Projects Coordinator Kelly
Fields. Most parks and recreation
employees would have been trans
ferred to a newly formed grounds
maintenance division of the engi
neering department.
Harvey had recommended that
four rccrcation staff members form a
"light human services division"
working under the county manager
with guidance from a committee of
six members representing the health
department, county schools and the
department of social services.
"The operations of our rccrcation
program by a working committee so
diversified as the group you pro
posed seems logistically unsound,
and management by committee of a
department the size of our present
recreation department to be not effi
cient government," Warren said of
(See BUDGET, Page 2-A)
NO FIRE DISTRICT MONEY?
Logan Said Hurt, Puzzled
By Proposed Budget Plan
BY ERIC CARLSON
After more than ten years of over
seeing Brunswick County's response
to fires, auto wrecks, hurricanes,
waste spills and mock nuclcar disas
ters, Emergency Management Dir
ector Cecil Logan says he can't help
feeling demoralized by Interim
County Manager John Harvey's plan
to demote him to fire marshal.
He also expressed concern over
Harvey's proposal to cut out the dis
trict funding allocations that local
volunteer fire and rescue squads
count on for buying new equipment.
Harvey's draft 1993-94 budget
would eliminate the emergency
management department and the po
sition of director. It would make
Logan the county firc marshal and
elevate his assistant, Brenda Free
man, to the position of emergency
management coordinator in a com
bined department headed by current
Emergency Medical Services and
911 Director Doug Lcdgctt.
"It will not work." Logan said
Tuesday. "It can't work. There's too
much difference between the func
tions of EMS and 911 and emer
gency management and the fire mar
shal.
"Both of us (Logan and Ledgett)
(See LOGAN, Page 2-A)
Health Board
OKs 'Grace Period'
For Overcrowding Violators
BY LYNN CARLSON
Property owners who allow their vacation cottages to
be rented by more occupants than septic systems are de
signed to handle will get a one-season "grace period" to
come into compliance, following action by the Bruns
wick County Board of Health on Monday.
On recommendation from Environmental Health
Supervisor Andrew Robinson, the board voted to back
off of its plan to send letters to 75 percent of the coun
ty's vacation rental property owners threatening criminal
penalties for those who refuse to reduce occupancy or
upgrade their cottages' wastewater treatment capacity.
Robinson said he received "many phone calls" from
rental agents and others after the health board voted
May 10 to crack down on violators whose septic sys
tems may be malfunctioning and allowing sewage to
pollute area waters.
'They want to meet and talk. They appear willing to
do everything they can to correct the problem, but
they're concerned about the time of year. Their
brochures are done; they're already advertising for this
year," Robinson said, adding that many cottages are
booked up to a year in advance.
He said he plans to meet with rental agents on each
beach to discuss the problem and seek solutions.
"They're willing to negotiate," Robinson said. "They
agreed not to pack them in this year, and to comply next
year.
The five health board members present at Monday's
meeting unanimously agreed to Robinson's request after
a spirited discussion of the issue.
"I thought the slate was pushing this," said board
member George Young. "What are they going to say
about you circumventing this?"
Robinson said that, though he had not talked with
slate health officials, "I think they'll go along if they see
that satisfactory progress if being made."
"It seems to me you'd have to be relying a lot on the
honesty of Realtors," member Arthur Knox said.
Thumbing through one agency's rental brochure.
Young said, "If you've got four bedrooms, you don't put
17 people in the house. You know that when you build
it. They're just coming out and saying, 'We're going to
defy you."' Robinson said some cottages are equipped
with septic systems designed to accommodate four peo
ple per bedroom.
Chairman Maliston Stanley said the board should take
into account that vacationers often book "the same
house for the same week the next year, with the same
Davis Resigns As Health Board Chairman
Citing his growing chiropractic practice and appoint
ment to the N.C. Chiropractic Association executive
committee, HJ. "Skip" Davis has resigned as chairman
of the Brunswick County Board of Health.
Davis, in a Monday telephone interview, said he has
been spending "an awful lot of time" on health board
matters while trying to see 35 to 45 patients a day in his
own practice.
He added that he would "like to see the health board
change its focus, which is what I've been trying for a
few months to do," declining to elaborate.
Under Davis' leadership, the board has advocated dc
velopment of a regional stormwater and wastewater
management system, adopted a countywidc leash law
for dogs and begun developing procedures for inspecting
mobile home parks and certifying food service establish
ment managers.
He will be succeeded by Maliston "Moe" Stanley of
Shaliotte, who has been serving as the board's vice
chairman.
Stanley in September was honored with the N.C.
Public Health Association's Distinguished Service
Award. He was also appointed to the Governor's
Council on Minority Health by Gov. Jim Martin.
number of people," making it necessary for Robinson to
begin his meetings with agents soon. Robinson said he
will begin the meetings during the second and third
week of June.
In May, 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 tanks are permitted.
He said the study compared septic tank permits with
occupancy levels advertised in 1993 rental brochures.
Listings for four-bedroom cottages, whose septic sys
tems are designed for two renters per bedroom, fre
quently advertise that the units will sleep 10 or more
people, Robinson said.
While the advertisements are not against the law,
Robinson said renting the cottages to the number of oc
cupants advertised is illegal.
Robinson said Monday that his department has been
working with state health officials to develop a proce
dure for warning and penalizing violators. He said they
are "leaning in the direction" of an administrative penal
ty.with a per-day charge until problems are remedied,
against homeowners.
Suspension or revocation of septic tank permits can
be a "long, drawn-out" process taking at least 60 days,
he added.
Attorney Sues
Calabash Over
Building Inspector's Actions
BY ERIC CARLSON
An attorney who owns commercial property
in Calabash has filed a lawsuit against the
town claiming that Building Inspector Edward
Schaack harassed him, trespassed on his prop
erty and offered to take money for designing
improvements that would allow him to pass a
building inspection.
The complaint, filed by Holden Beach attor
ney Benedict Del Re Jr., accuses Schaack of
acting outside the scope of his authority by
"enforcing the code incorrectly and illegally."
It claims that the town also should be held li
able because it "acquiesced" in Schaack's be
havior.
But Calabash Town Attorney Mike Ramos
said Monday that the suit "sounds pretty mer
itless to me" in regard to the town's liability.
He said that if the alleged offenses occurred
while Schaack was exceeding his authority as
a Calabash official, then the town would not
be responsible for his actions.
District Court Judge Jerry A. Jolly last
week issued a temporary restraining order pre
venting Schaack or any other town official
from visiting the seven-unit "Shops of
Calabash" plaza Del Re owns on Beach Drive
for the purpose of removing or modifying his
signs.
Judge Jolly has scheduled a June 3 hearing
to decide whether the order should remain in
effcct until the case is heard in civil district
court
The suit is the first to be filed against
Calabash over Schaack's strict enforcement of
town sign ordinances, which has angered
many business owners and resulted in numer
ous legal actions being brought against them
by the town. The ongoing dispute has been
blamed for fueling a recent push to divide
Calabash into two municipalities.
Del Re outlined his charges against Schaack
at a recent town board meeting, where it was
suggested that he apply for a variance to the
town sign ordinance. When Del Re failed to
apply for the variance, the commissioners
turned the matter over to Ramos for court ac
tion.
Ramos said he had prepared a civil suit
against Del Re for allegedly failing to comply
with the sign ordinance and had sent him a
"courtesy copy" before filing it. Now that Del
Re has sued Calabash, Ramos said the town's
complaint would likely become part of a
counter-claim against Del Re.
In an interview last week, Del Re said that
one of the reasons he had filed his suit was to
head off action against him by Calabash.
"I'm not going to allow them to sue mc
when I'm in the right," Del Re said.
Del Re's suit claims his problems with
Schaack began last spring, when Del Re ob
tained a building permit to do extensive reno
vations at the plaza. Once the project got un
derway, the suit claims that Schaack "was pre
sent on the property on a daily basis and
sometimes on a hourly basis throughout the
day and evenings."
During construction of a wheelchair walk
way, the suit claims that Schaack ordered the
subcontractors off Del Re's property. Schaack
also ordered Del Re to remodel the air condi
tioning system and to re-configure the roof
rafters, the suit claims. Then Schaack alleged
ly refused to grant Del Re an occupancy per
CALABASH, Page 2-A)
Inside...
Birthdays .2B
Business News 12-13A
Calendar ..11A
Church News 10A
Oldssiflvd ??????????????????? 1-9C
Court Docket ..?....10Cf8A
Crime Report .8A
Fishing 11-12C
Golf ? 8B
Obituaries 10A
Opinion 4-5 A
People In The News.....5B
Plant Doctor...-? 3B
Sports .8-12B
Television 6-7B