The annual memorial march through town begins Sunday, January 18, at 3 p.m. at the ILA hall. A program following the march at the hall will feature the Rev. George Allison, chairman of the state Human Relations Commission. The focus is to encourage youths to pursue their dreams. Also appearing will be Vann Pennell, Brunswick County’s principal of the year, and several youth performers.

The roundtable breakfast will be at 8 a.m. on Monday, January 19, at Trinity United Methodist Church. The Rev. Vernon King, pastor of Friendship Baptist Church in Greensboro, will be the featured speaker. King is the nephew of the late Martin Luther King Jr. The breakfast will also include presentation of the Walter Welsh Award for furthering civil rights.

Breakfast tickets are $10 and are available at area churches or by calling Ivory Parker at 457-5144.

Walker is 57, and he is a white male approximately 5’8” tall, weighing 150 pounds. He is balding, with gray hair and a bushy gray beard and mustache.

Anyone with any information about Walker is asked to call detective Kristy Cox or Sgt. Tony Burke at the Oak Island Police Department, (910) 278-5595.

Village manager Calvin Peck in an email on Tuesday told the mayor and council members he had just spoken with Gordon Myers, executive director of the Wildlife Resources Commission, who according to Peck said Bald Head Island’s “special situation” could warrant approval of a permit to conduct a deer cull as planned.

That “special situation,” according to Myers, is that the island’s officials were not aware of the new rule that resulted in the denial of their culling permit last week.

In a letter to Peck on December 19, N.C. Division of Wildlife Management (DWM) chief David T. Cobb stated that Bald Head Island’s culling permit request was turned down “due to the recent passage of a rule … which requires municipalities to use the Urban Archery Season to remedy an overabundance of deer…”

The state created Urban Archery Season in 2007 as an option for municipalities to thin out abundant deer herds, but it’s an option the state said Bald Head Island had to try before DWM would consider issuing a culling permit.

Island leaders argued that Urban Archery Season wouldn’t be effective in culling the amount of deer they had planned, nor would it be safe on an island so populated.

Additionally, Bald Head’s next opportunity for Urban Archery Season would be in 2010, crashing the village’s plan to try non-lethal deer management by then. In an email to Myers, Peck stressed the village’s time and effort preparing for the 2009 cull.

Myers responded by telling Peck he would meet with Cobb to draft a permit specific to Bald Head Island, a letter of approval for which could come next week. “I believe I have the authority to write the permit,” Myers said Tuesday. “It just seems fair we should give them an opportunity to come into compliance.”

That means the village could get their permit this year, but would have to try Urban Archery Season if it desires additional culls down the road.

If this cull is approved, it would take place in January and would target up to 125 deer. Officials want to reduce the number of deer drastically as a kick-start to its non-lethal approach of using contraceptive drugs.

Read the full story in the January 7 edition of The State Port Pilot.

Imagine being able to see what hundreds of port-bound tractor-trailers traveling through Boiling Spring Lakes would look like, or how a sewage treatment plant would fit in the city’s landscape, or how a proposed subdivision such as Willow Brooke would appear at build-out — all well before they ever came close to reality.

That window into the future and more is what planning board member Shayne Hawn wants to provide the city through Google Sketchup, a three-dimensional digital modeling program he has become familiar with as an architect with Shremshock Companies in Southport.

Used to visualize buildings and streetscapes beyond the flat-plane confines of blueprints and sketches on paper, the computer software allows users to not only picture areas three-dimensionally but also navigate through them. Hawn and Cleve Murphy, principal of the architecture and engineering firm, are offering their know-how of the program’s capabilities to take the city’s long-range planning into a new dimension.

“It’s software to do something different than the typical two-dimensional maps we’re used to,” Hawn said while demonstrating the program to the planning board in December. He and Murphy plan to give a similar demonstration to the board of commissioners at its next regular meeting on Tuesday, January 6.

“This tool allows us to add zoning maps, all buildings that have been constructed,” Murphy said, adding that the program can allow residents and decision makers to fully visualize the scope and magnitude of a proposed development project.

“The opportunity to visually see and proactively plan your future is what this tool is all about,” he said.

Planning board members and residents in attendance responded enthusiastically to the program, and city planner Nick Smith said the software could benefit not only planning but efforts by the city to seek political or financial support for projects, such as the approved but unfunded traffic signal at N.C. 87 and East Boiling Spring Road.

“With this tool, with the new traffic light, we can factor in traffic numbers that would show how far back the traffic would be without the light,” he said. “You can see it a lot more visibly than you could on paper.”

Smith said he intends to present the demonstration, which Hawn and Murphy produced voluntarily, to state roads officials when making the city’s case for funding for the traffic signal.

The presentation also features ideas Hawn played around with for the N.C. 87 corridor. Using the software, he drew up a three-dimensional park for the west end of Big Lake alongside the highway. His idea includes a pedestrian bridge over the water, parallel to the road, along with swing benches, a playground and people for scale.

Navigating through the creation, Hawn can zoom in to show structure details, add shadow according to times of day, and perform other functions to help bring the concept to life.

“It’s going to be an absolutely great tool for planning,” planning board chairman Jim Elswick responded.

“With a visual of what’s being proposed, people can have a better idea of what they think about it before it’s halfway built,” board member Matt Smith added.

Hawn is offering the service just as the planning board is starting to develop the city’s first long-range plan, which would integrate individual plans for the commercial corridor, streets and sidewalks, environmental protection, parks and recreation, and hazard mitigation, along with a unified development ordinance.

Hawn and Murphy are proposing to incorporate the modeling software into the city’s long-range planning, with a fee for their services that has yet to be determined. While his work with the program would render a profit, should the city opt to acquire the company’s services, Hawn said the proposal would not present a conflict of interest, but rather an opportunity to share his knowledge for the betterment of Boiling Spring Lakes.

“The company is very ethically based, and I would recuse myself from any votes,” he said. “I live in Boiling Spring Lakes, I serve on the planning board, and I’m also an architect. So I feel like I know this city pretty well.”

Hawn plans to demonstrate the modeling program to the board of commissioners at its next meeting, which starts at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, January 6.

According to the court document, Howard took out a warrant against Robbie Bridgers for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle on Dec 19, 2005. Bolduc stopped the 2003 Dodge truck and arrested Bridgers the next day, but allegedly let an “unknown passenger” take the truck.

On Dec. 21, the department again searched for the truck, found it and tried to stop it. But the driver tried to flee, lost control and wrecked the truck, the complaint alleges. The driver fled the scene and the truck was a “total loss.”

Bolduc was negligent in his duties, the lawsuit claims. Howard lost equipment, tools and income when the truck was totaled, the complaint states. Sheriff John Ingram is named as a defendant only in his official capacity.

For more on this issue, check next week’s issue of The State Port Pilot.

The district’s lawsuit calls that pact a “quasi-contract.”

The quasi-contract went bad early this year after district leaders informed Southport aldermen they intended to charge significantly higher fees. Aldermen responded by cutting a deal with Brunswick County utilities that they said would save the average household $22 to $13 a month.

District chairman Louis Roberti wrote Southport officials on Aug. 12, asking for payment of $4.5 million. The district contends it has lost most of a state grant and has spent millions on engineering plans that are useless now that Southport has backed out of the deal.

The city responded that it would not pay the money and would continue to honor the agreement until plans for sending sewage to the county were completed. The city stated on Aug. 19 that it had provided ample notice to the district about the situation.

The district’s lawsuit tracks the history of various agreements with Southport dating back to 1996. It contends that the city and the district continued to discuss and evaluate modifications to the “master project” (treatment plant expansion) from 2004 through 2007.

The district “reasonably relied upon the representations of Southport by applying for certain grants and other financing to fund the acceleration and expansion of the Master Project,” the lawsuit states. The district “has lost or will lose other grants and other funding sources as a result of Southport’s actions,” it stated.

Southport officials have said that the fee increases proposed by the district meant that the 2004 deal was no longer valid.

“It’s disappointing but not completely unexpected,” said Southport city manager Alan Thornton. Thornton said he would discuss making a response with city attorney Mike Isenberg.
Meanwhile, the city has made a deal with the county expected to provide for its needs for at least five to ten years. Southport plans to construct a pumping station just off N.C. 211 and send all of its sewage to a county treatment plant at Supply. The city and county may eventually build a treatment plant on land both governments own near Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point.

-Lee Hinnant

Cobb instructed the village to submit a letter prior to April 1, 2009, stating its intent to participate in Urban Archery Season.

Village councilman Gene Douglas called the permit denial a “major problem.”

“We can’t allow hunting on the island,” he explained. “It’s simply not safe. Secondly, even if we could do bow hunting on the island, there’s no way that we could cull enough deer to make any difference.”

Read the December 24 edition of The State Port Pilot for the full story.

At this point, the boards have only approved asking a recently-formed deer committee to draft a detailed plan, putting out bait to draw deer into certain areas and looking into insurance costs and other details.

For the complete story, check Tuesday’s issue of The State Port Pilot.

A boil water notice for all residents of Brunswick Forest in Leland was rescinded Saturday, December 20.

Bacteriological analysis results of drinking water samples collected from the water system show no coliform bacteria present, and the system has resumed normal operations, according to a statement released by the North Brunswick Sanitary District.

The district issued the notice the previous day as a precautionary measure due to utilities construction on Low Country Boulevard in Brunswick Forest. The construction caused a loss of pressure in the water system, which could potentially cause contamination in the lines, according to a press release.

Water suppliers are required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to notify customers to boil water when water samples indicate contamination or when conditions exist that make the water supply vulnerable to contamination. These conditions include a drop in system pressure to below 20 pounds per square inch, a break in a major distribution line, a malfunction of the treatment system or a cross-connection to a contaminated water supply.

State insurance commissioner Jim Long on Thursday approved rate increases that include a 29.8-percent jump for Brunswick County’s mainland and 17.5 percent for the barrier islands.

It’s a far cry from the 70-percent increase the N.C. Rate Bureau said it wanted for coastal counties earlier this month. They sought statewide increases, which would have averaged 19.5-percent but now will average 4.05 percent per Long’s approval, to pad private insurance companies against assessments and potentially large payouts to policy holders in event of a damaging hurricane.

Those assessments would come from the managers of the Beach Plan, a state-created coastal homeowners insurance plan with limited funds. The plan has the power to weigh assessments on private insurance companies for additional money needed.

The increases Long accepted Thursday will be effective May 1, 2009. Long said the settlement comes after a tumultuous scare-period in which homeowners statewide thought they would have to pay sky-high premiums.

“There has been a lot of speculation surrounding this homeowners rate filing, but I feel that we’ve reached a settlement that is fair to both consumers and insurance companies in North Carolina,” Long said in a statement released Thursday. “No one likes to see their insurance rates go up, but the industry made a strong case for allowing some increases this year. The silver lining is that most consumers won’t see nearly the increases that were initially proposed.”

Persons may view the insurance department’s statement with county-by-county rate breakdowns here: http://www.ncdoi.com/media/news2/year/2008/121808.asp