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Today's News

  • Brunswick's newest school set to open

    Brunswick County Schools will open its 18th school next week. About 100 students will be a part of the first class of the 8th Grade Transition Academy on the Brunswick County Academy campus.

    The idea for the Academy was one its newly named principal, Faye Lloyd, had for many years. After teaching elementary students for 16 years, she found engaging, creative ways to help at-risk students.

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  • Holden Beach approves $184,000 more for new Emergency Operations Center

    Tuesday night, Holden Beach Commissioners approved, by a 3-1 vote, spending an additional $184,000 to finish the new Emergency Operations Center.

    The money the previous town board had allocated for the project was just for the shell of the building and did not address paying for furnishings, communications or parking, current commissioners said Tuesday.

    Commissioner Gary Staley, who was also on the previous board, questioned why the on-site wastewater facility tab had gone from $6,000 to $50,000.

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  • Town considers amendment to flood damage prevention ordinance

    OCEAN ISLE BEACH—A proposed resolution to Ocean Isle Beach’s flood damage prevention ordinance may make it easier for homeowners to make additions or changes to their homes.

    According to Justin Whiteside, planning director, the current ordinance prohibits homes built after 1972 from constructing additions less than 50 percent of the value of the existing structure without making the addition comply with the current flood elevations. In some cases that could be as much as 7 feet higher than the existing structure.

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  • Alderman denies San Rio 'harassment'

    SHALLOTTE—The town alderman who accused developers of the San Rio project of potentially harming the Shallotte River has denied the town “harassed” developers during the development’s planning and approval process.

    Last week, vice president Jim Wiseman of Wakefield Coastal, the developers of the San Rio project, withdrew the company’s petition for annexation and rezoning of a portion of land off Gray Bridge Road after learning alderman John Kinlaw had accused them of creating a potential pollution hazard.

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  • Fire set in store

    The Wal-Mart Supercenter in Shallotte was evacuated last Thursday night after a fire was set in the women’s undergarments department, Shallotte Fire Chief Paul Dunwell said.

    The fire was reported at about 5:50 p.m. after customers reported seeing flames from a rack of undergarments shoot in the air as high as 10 feet, detective Eric King of the Shallotte Police Department said.

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  • Sunset Beach approves 10-year payback period for sewer

    SUNSET BEACH—Town council last week discussed a payback period for the town’s estimated $33 million sewer project slated to launch next year, with completion by 2011.

    Town attorney Michael Isenberg said, following recent discussion with Brunswick County Attorney Huey Marshall, there is no way it could be done for more than 10 years.

    He said at the Aug. 4 meeting a new act allowing for 30 years “doesn’t apply in our situation.”

    A tax district could be set up in which people pay a separate tax.

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  • Back to school shopping more than crayons and lunch boxes

    Preparing children to go back to school can be costly, but necessary to make sure a productive day in the classroom is possible.

    Going back-to-school shopping has been an expensive outing long before gas was $4 a gallon. Even though it was an expensive time of year, my parents made sure we had everything we needed, and most times a little more.

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  • Close encounters with birth, death and beyond

    Over the past seven decades, there have been dramatic events in my professional and personal life worth sharing and reflecting, like the miracle of birth and the tragedy of death.

    Delivering the first baby

    Police officers are trained to respond to a substantial number of calls for service. I had never actually watched a live birth, let alone been the sole assistant for a young woman desperately needing help at a most critical time of her life.

    Nevertheless, I was dealt that card one afternoon as I was on patrol early in my law enforcement career.

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  • Nothing's worse than a room that's bugged

    I had just lain down when a menacing dark blob high on the mango-hued wall caught my weary eyes.

    Even in the dark, my sixth-sense bug-detector went off. Is thatee? I wondered, snapping on the lamp and squinting toward the ceiling.

    Yep, it was.

    An August “palmetto bug” had decided to pay a less-than-August, uninvited visit into the living room—my living room. He was staring down at me from his lofty perch, giggling and daring me to take action.

    “Catch me if you can,” he snickered.

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  • Reader feedback can sometimes be puzzling but is often valuable

    Thanks to those of you who have taken time to respond to the call I put out last week for feedback about our television listings.

    Readers have called, mailed and e-mailed suggestions about what we can do to make our television listings more user friendly.

    I’m collecting all the suggestions and soon we’ll take those comments and evaluate our current product. The goal will be to determine what, if any, changes we need to make or if we need to continue to offer the service at all.

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