Today's News

Water access trumped a tight budget Monday night as county commissioners earmarked $500,000 over the next two years for a new boat ramp in Sunset Beach.

In a fiscal year where the county budget included no new jobs and expenditures were severely limited, Sunset Beach town officials will receive $250,000 from this year’s budget.

County manager Marty Lawing said the $250,000 commissioners agreed to give the town from this fiscal year’s budget was not included in the budget, but water access “has been a major goal of commissioners this year and last.”

Persons applying for sensitive jobs, like at the airport, hospital, school, financial institution or in law enforcement, must submit to a detailed background investigation. Consequently, many people do not apply, knowing they will be washed out.

Among those who do apply, a significant number are rejected at the conclusion of the investigation. Derogatory information may be developed when a criminal history is revealed, a poor credit record, past employment problems or disqualifying information from a reference, relative or neighbor comes to light.

The CNN headline Monday afternoon made my stomach flip, “Developing Story: President Bush says Hurricane Ike has put ‘a pinch’ on nation’s energy supply.”

As if things weren’t bad enough.

On Friday, as gas prices in some places across the nation skyrocketed higher than $5 a gallon, I kept an eye on local prices. On a few occasions when I left the office, I noted increasing costs of gas, with lines growing longer and longer at local pumps.

Monday night, Brunswick County Commissioners made a good decision when they decided to make changes to the county’s water availability fee.

Previously, residents, whose homes were built before 1997, had to pay the $11 monthly fee just because the water service was available, even if a homeowner opted not to tap into the system.

With changes made Monday night, residents who don’t have a tap into the system, or those who choose to have a tap removed from their property, will no longer have to pay the fee.