Opinion

Gov. Roy Cooper on June 30 signed Senate Bill 155, called the “brunch bill” because it allows the sale of alcoholic beverages starting at 10 a.m. Sundays with local government approval, into law.

The North Carolina Restaurant & Lodging Association lobbied hard for passage of the bill, touted by its sponsors as an added boost to the state’s hospitality and tourism industries.

Classes for the 2017-18 school year just kicked off this past Monday for most Brunswick County schools, but already students and teachers can expect to harvest the fruits of success that took root during the inaugural Teacher Academy.

Brunswick County Board of Education member John Thompson planted the seed for the program last fall to address three issues: teacher pay, accountability for student performance and changes in the educational system.

The first day of classes for Brunswick County Schools students is not until Aug. 28, which means it is not too late to prepare for the start of the 2017-18 school year.

Brunswick County Sheriff John Ingram provides important safety tips for motorists to follow all year round, not just when school is in session, in his Sheriff’s Corner column this week. Following is a compendium of other helpful back-to-school hints we found.

For parents, from the U.S. Department of Education:

Last month, members of the Brunswick County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to transform the South Brunswick Island Center into the new Hickmans Crossroads Library.

The county will take possession of the SBIC (not to be confused with the South Brunswick Interchurch Council) from Brunswick Community College in January, having agreed May 1 to buy it from the college for $1.7 million. The price reflects its listed tax value for 2015, but County Manager Ann Hardy said a much more recent rough estimate for the current value is about $1.2 million.

The fundamental purpose of newspapers has been to cultivate an informed readership. Regardless of political leanings, newspapers at their core are champions of the public’s right to know about the issues and events affecting their lives.

As Navassa prepares to celebrate its 36th annual Homecoming this weekend, residents continue to cope with the environmental aftermath of a former creosote plant in their community since it closed just a year before the event was established.

Creosote, which is made by distilling coal tar at extremely high heat, is used to preserve wood and commonly used on utility poles. It was produced on a 250-acre site by the Brunswick River and Sturgeon Creek for more than 40 years before the Kerr-McGee Chemical Corp. shuttered it in 1980.

It is almost unheard of these days to remain with the same employer for more than a decade, let alone an entire career. Rodney Gause could have made headlines for that alone when he announced his retirement from Shallotte earlier this year after 35 years. But Gause spent each of those years with the police department, the last 29 as chief, making his tenure with the town remarkable.

To hear Gause tell it, he was destined to work in law enforcement. It is all he said he ever wanted to do for a living, and to serve his hometown in that capacity made it extra special.

As our streets become more crowded with vehicles during the summer tourist season, which is well under way, it seems parking problems throughout Brunswick County are either coming to light or being exacerbated.

In the northern part of the county, Leland continues to grapple with parking three years after plans began in earnest to address it.

Five local teams have given Brunswick County plenty of reasons to cheer this spring.

First, there are the North Brunswick High School boys and girls track and field teams, who each repeated as North Carolina High School Athletic Association 2A Region champions May 13.