Retiring Sheriff Looks
Forward To Changing Gears
BY ERIC CARLSON
For the past few months, when people asked
Brunswick County Sheriff John Carr Davis how many
days remained before his retirement, he would flash his
characteristic grin and throw the number back without a
moment's thought.
If it was after lunch, he could tell you to the half-day.
It's not that he was necessarily eager to leave the de
partment he served for nearly two decades and headed
for mnrr than 1 1 years
But nobody ever called Sheriff Davis indecisive.
Once his mind was made up, he started looking forward
to a new life ? as a civilian.
There are a lot of things I'll miss, and there are a lot
of things I won't miss," Davis said Monday as he
rocked back in (he old familiar chair behind the desk he
will officially vacate Nov. 30.
"1 guess what I'll miss most are the people, like
(Chief Deputy) John Marlow, who I've had such a good
working relationship with for a long time," Davis said.
"But I'm not going to miss those phone calls in the
middle of the night. Or having a siren go by and won
dering if one of my men is in trouble."
Although he modestly claims he hasn't "done any
thing outstanding" as sheriff, Davis said, "I think I'm
turning over a good department to Ronald (Hewett). I
feel confident he'll handle it."
It was Sheriff Davis who hired Hewett as a deputy in
1983, shortly after he was sworn at the Holden Beach
Police Department as North Carolina's youngest law
enforcement officer.
Hewett has high praise for his old boss and says it
was Davis who allowed him to juggle a full-time patrol
deputy's schedule so Hewett could earn a degree in
criminal justice at UNC-Wilmington.
And it was Sheriff Davis, in 1990, who convinced
Hewett to take a new position of Drug Abuse
Resistance Education Officer.
"He didn't want it at first. Ronald can be a little hard
headed, you know," Davis said with a smile. "But he
was a line sergeant at the time and it came with a pro
motion to lieutenant. 1 told him to take it and he did.
Hc's> uuuc a guuu job wiih ii. He diu a goou job wher
ever I put him."
Hewett won't officially assume the job of sheriff un
til Dec. 5. But Davis needs to step down by the end of
November to avoid losing a month of retirement bene
(See DAVIS, Page 2-A)
RETIRING SHERIFF John Carr Davis.
TH MCKftKACON
Thirty-Third Yiwr, Number 3 wmnmmum* Shot lotto, North Carolina, Thursday, November 17, 1994 50* Per Copy 42 Poges, 4 Sections, Plus Inserts
mrmoiORiKCMuoN
Stars , Stripes And Smiles
Blair Canady (left), age 7, of Russtown and Michael King, 8, of Sunset Beach proudly display two of
the new flags donated to Union Elementary School in honor of Veterans Day last week. The ladies
auxiliary of Calabash Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7288 presented flags to be hung in each of the
school i 29 classrooms along with Pledge of Allegiance cants for every student. Shawn with the stu
dents are Mae Moloney, " Americanism 9 chairman for the post, and second-grade teacher Robin
Gaskins.
Beacon Has
Early Deadlines,
Publication Date
Because of the Thanksgiving
holiday. The Brunswick Beacon
will publish a day earlier next
week and all advertising and
news deadlines will be a day
earlier.
All real estate advertising
must be placed by 5 p.m.
Thursday, Nov. 17, and classi
fied advertising roust be ordered
by noon on Monday, Nov. 21.
The newspaper will be avail
able in racks and at dealer loca
tions Tuesday. Mail subscribers
in Brunswick County should re
ceive their paper on Wednesday.
Other subscribers should get
their papers about the same time
as usual since post offices will
be closed for the holiday on
Thursday, Nov. 24.
The Beacon office will be
closed Thursday, Nov. 24.
Inside...
Birthdays 2B
Business News ...10-11C
Calendar 8D
Church News .............. 10A
Classified ..-1-9C
Crime Report 9D
Court Docket...... ???t ?????? 6D
Fishing...................... ? 4D
Golf...... ........ .5D
Obituaries 10A
Opinion ?????????????MM*** ..4-5A
People In The News . ? 9C
I Plant Doctor.. ? SB
1 Sports 1-5D
I Television 6-7B
Wr
Sheriff- Elect Discusses
Plans For Department,
Names DARE Successor
BY ERIC CARLSON
As Brunswick County Sheriff's deputies look forward
to seeing one of their own take charge of the department,
one question has lingered: Who will Sheriff -elect
Ronald Hewett choose to succeed him as the county's
new Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) officer?
After all, it won't be easy to replace the man voted
United States DARE Officer of the year for 1993.
In an interview with the Beacon Tuesday, Hewett
named his successor in the post and discussed some of
his plans for leading the department during the next four
years.
Former Henderson County Deputy Sgt. Cliff
Eu banks, who has supervised the DARE program in and
around the western North Carolina city of Hender
sonville since 1990, will become Brunswick County's
new DARE officer shortly after Hewett takes office Dec.
5, the sheriff-elect said.
Hewett called Eubanks "highly experienced, excellent
with children, devoted to the job," and said he felt confi
dent his replacement "will be an asset to the department
* and to the school system."
"1 think everyone will be pleased with him and will
feel that the DARE program is in very capable hands,"
Hewett said. "He has a good law enforcement back
ground. He's had SWAT team training. And he's the
kind of guy who will attend ball games and show up at
after-school activities."
Hewett said he has known Eubanks since 1990, when
they met as members of the N.C. DARE Officers
Association. He said Eubanks will retain his rank of
sergeant and will assume other law enforcement duties
as a deputy sheriff.
Although he would not reveal any detailed plans lor
personnel changes in the department, Hewett said he
will re-organize shifts and positions to allow 24-hour
staffing of the sheriff's office "beginning at 9 a.m.,
December 5." He said the department's doors will re
main open round-the-clock, with a uniformed deputy
manning the front desk at all hours.
Hewett said he also plans to alter work schedules "to
have more ranking supervisors available when they are
most likely to be needed." Captains and lieutenants "will
be out after 5 p.m." along with shift supervisors and
road deputies, he said.
He also promised to upgrade the department's tele
phone system to make it easier for citizens to contact in
vestigators and department administrators.
In discussing his plans for improving law enforce
ment in the county, Hewett said he has already begun
contacting state and federal agencies to enlist their coop
eration with the sheriff's department.
"We will especially be targeting repeat offenders and
trying to get them into federal courts, where they will re
ceive stiffer sentences," Hewett said. "My goal will be
to put career offenders out of business. It's not going to
be done overnight. But we're going after them."
Toward that end, Hewett plans to form a "drug and vi
olent crime task force" to focus on homicides, rapes, as
saults and other violent crimes. He said forming the task
force will help the department qualify for some of the
state and federal funds being channeled toward local po
lice departments to combat violent crime.
He also expects cooperation from federal agencies in
prosecuting drug offenders and other violent criminals
(See EUBANKS, Page 2-A)
Swearing-in Ceremony
Scheduled For Dec. 5
Brunswick County Sheriff-elect Ronald Hewett will
be sworn in at 9 a.m. Monday, Dec. 5, in the public as
sembly building at the county complex in Bolivia.
Chief Resident Superior Court Judge William C. Gore
Jr. will administer the oath of office in a ceremony that
will include a color guard of local police officers.
District Attorney Rex Gore will preside over the cere
mony and introduce the participants.
All sheriff's deputies, their families and citizens of the
county are invited to attend.
Revised School Bonus Pay Plans
Spark Questions By School Board
BY SUSAN USHER
Revised plans by several school staffs for distributing
bonus pay didn't pass the Brunswick County Board of
Education's muster Monday night, and sparked ques
tions about the effectiveness of the program.
The school board plans to meet next Tuesday, Nov.
22, at 3:30 p.m. at the central office in South port to dis
cuss specific questions with representatives of Lincoln
Primary, Shallotte Middle and Supply Elementary
schools
In voting that included both certified and non-certi
fied employees, staffs of Lincoln Primary and Shallotte
Middle schools chose to shift their use of some bonus
money from staff training to awarding individual pay
bonuses on a point system, a move that especially con
cerned board member William Fairley. The board wasn't
sure if Supply school's plan reflected a similar change or
not, and wanted to check before acting.
"I'm going to object to any plan that changes the dis
tribution of money," Fairley vowed.
"I didn't like it either," said Shallotte Middle School
Principal Sandra Robinson of her staff's choice. "But it
hits them in their hip."
Staff voting at Shallotte was influenced partly by their
experience the previous year, when 20 percent of the
money was set aside for staff development but wasn't
needed for it. The school's students subsequently posted
the greatest improvement of any school on end-of-grade
testing.
At Shallotte Middle non-certified staff are involved in
activities that do influence student achievement, she
said, from calling parents of absentee students to moni
toring halls to insure a safe environment.
Part of the problem, said board member Polly Russ, is
offering staff development opportunities that are suitable
for the non-certified, non-classroom employees at high
schools and middle schools. Most of the non-certified
staff at elementary schools are classroom teacher assis
tants.
Fairley also questioned individual school's plans to
award points for teachers attending PTSA meetings or
making parent contacts, efforts he believes should al
ready be part of any teacher's job.
(See SCHOOL BOARD, Page 2-A)
County-Schools Funding Dispute
To Get More Statewide Attention
BY SUSAN USHER
Statewide interest continued this week in the funding
dispute between the Brunswick County Board of Com
missioners and Brunswick County Board of Education.
Brunswick County Superintendent of Schools Ralph
Johnston and school board Chairman Donna Baxter left
Tuesday morning to address the N.C. School Boards
Association at its annual meeting, which continues
through Wednesday at the Four Seasons Holiday Inn in
Greensboro.
"They're mainly interested in the process," Johnston
said Monday night. The superintendent and school
board chairman from Greene County were asked to
make a similar presentation.
Don Warren, chairman of the Brunswick County
Board of Commissioners, was asked to speak on the
funding dispute at the state county commissioners' asso
ciation annual meeting in Asheville in August. Since
then the association has agreed to consider lobbying the
state legislature to grant separate tax-levying powers to
boards of education, an idea initiated by the Brunswick
County Board of Commissioners.
The move comes in response to a recent statewide
trend in which more and more school boards are chal
lenging the adequacy of county financial support of their
local school systems.
In July the Brunswick County Board of Education ap
pealed the commissioners' budget allocation of $9.2
million and then rejected an offer of settlement. A
month later a jury awarded the Brunswick County
Schools the full $14 million it sought, but the schools
(See FUNDING, Page 2-A)
Veterans Remembered
Col. Virgil Batten, veterans services officer for Brunswick County,
addresses a Veterans Day gathering last week at Holden Beach
Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8866. Himself a veteran of 30 years
in the US. Air Force, Batten described war as "an ugly, destructive
and fearsome thing " and praised veterans for their willingness to
sacrifice " and sometimes pay the ultimate price " in defense of our
country. "As long as we have freedom, we must have someone
ready to defend that freedom. Which means we will always have
veterans to thank and remember," he said. "It is fate to be born
free. It is a privilege to live free. It is a responsibility to die free. "