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Christmas events There is a lot going on across Pender County during the Christmas season. Page 4B has information on a number of holiday events scheduled over the next several weeks in Pender County
Volume 45, No. 10
POST Voice
513 Roland Ave Surf City, NC (910) 328-2105 www.shopthebee.com
The Pender-Topsail
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Thursday, December 10, 2015
County cagers Pender County basketball teams are on the hardwood with nonconference games on the schedule before the Christmas break. Read all about the county cagers on page 8A.
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Two county residents die in vehicle crashes
Practicing for the parade
Currie man killed fleeing crime scene By Jefferson Weaver Contributing Writer A Currie man allegedly caught breaking into a Delcoarea home died Thursday after driving under a tractor-trailer while fleeing the crime scene. Jamie Earl Burton, 24, died when his 1999 Ford sedan went through a stop sign at Byrdville-Freeman road and under a transfer truck heading for the state port, according to the N.C. Highway Patrol. Burton died instantly. The truck driver was not injured. Columbus County sheriff ’s deputies reported that Burton was seen breaking into a home in the 400 block of Byrdville-Freeman around 10 a.m. The owner of the home, Marcus Barnhill, was alerted by a neighbor that there was a strange vehicle on his property. Barnhill drove to the scene, the report said, and confronted Burton, who fled the home in his surplus Highway Patrol cruiser. Burton apparently was looking in his rear view mirror when he drove through the stopsign and under the truck, the Highway Patrol reported. The sedan struck just behind the drive wheels on the semi, and was dragged
under the truck and partially under the rear wheels before the truck driver came to a stop 352 feet from the intersection. Both vehicles were traveling at 55 miles per hour at the time, according to the Highway Patrol. A specialized wrecker had to be used to lift the trailer off the car before Burton’s body— and a number of stolen firearms and other property from the Barnhill home—could be recovered. Burton’s body had to be cut from the wreckage. No charges were filed in the crash. Maple Hill man killed at N.C. 11 Cape Fear bridge A Maple Hill man burned to death in his logging truck Friday near the Bladen-Pender county line. Two other vehicles were damaged, but the drivers escaped major injury. Island Franklin Bannerman, 42, was driving north on N.C. 11, a short distance from Natmore Road in Kelly, when his truck struck a utility trailer and overturned, blocking the highway. The N.C. Highway Patrol said the trailer came loose from a southbound GMC Tahoe driven by Charlie
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Staff photos by Andy Pettigrew
Noah Harrell works with a group of students last Saturday from Cape Fear Middle School getting ready for Saturday’s annual Christmas Parade in Burgaw. Read more about the parade below.
Burgaw Christmas Parade Dec. 12 Post & Voice Columnist Edith Batson will be Grand Marshal By Andy Pettigrew Post & Voice Publisher The annual Burgaw Christmas Parade is Saturday at 6:30 p.m. in downtown Burgaw. I know there is a lot going on during the Christmas and New Year’s holiday season in Pender County. But the Burgaw parade is one event that you should not miss – especially if you have small children, or if you just love Christmas time. That night, Burgaw is Christmas Town USA with all the lights and feel of a small town Christmas. The nighttime parade features floats that are decorated with lights and it’s just, well, it’s beautiful. The parade will fol-
low its traditional route down Freemont Street from the Depot, around the Courthouse Square, and down Wright Street toward the Post Office. Emily Baker, Director of the Burgaw Area Chamber of Commerce, says more than 45 units will be in the parade this year. That’s a bit more than last year. I’m a little partial in my opinion of the parade, but I say it’s one of the best in southeastern North Carolina. Coupled with the beauty of the town’s Christmas decorations on the Courthouse Square, it’s a magical night. This year, the Post & Voice’s very own Edith Batson will be the Grand Marshal for the parade. Edith has been
Major building project approved in Surf City By Barbara Hazle Contributing Writer
Staff photo by Andy Pettigrew
The Topsail High School Marching Band brought the holiday spirit to the Topsail Beach Christmas parade last Saturday. See more photos on Facebook.
The Surf City Town Council approved a Planned Unit Development (PUD) rezoning for the former Sullivan property tract off Belt Road in Surf City at the Dec. 1 town council meeting. The Sullivan property encompasses
Edith Batson a writer and columnist with our newspaper since the 1970s. She went rogue and wrote for The Pender Chronicle for a while, but came home to The Post a few years ago. Her column Newsings and Musings,
240.19 acres along Belt Road, and has marshy access to the Intracoastal Waterway. This parcel of land is considered the last remaining large development tract in Surf City. Coterra Companies, a residential development firm based in Wilmington, presented the plan for a large community called Waterside at Surf City, with a maximum density of 3,242 residential units including low, medium and high density parcels or single family, town homes and multi -family residences. At the December meeting Dan Weeks, a landscape architect with the Wilmington firm of Paramounte Engineering working with Coterra Companies, said that Coterra Companies sees this development as a
began in The Pender Post in the 1970s and is reminiscent of a bygone time of small town newspapers and the columns that once filled those publications. “Edith has done a lot for our community to keep us informed with her columns. She is a great lady,” Baker said. Christmas Market at Depot The Pender County Relay for Life is sponsoring its second annual Burgaw Rockin’ Relay Christmas Market before and after the parade from 4-9 p.m. at the Historic Burgaw Depot. Come and shop to take care of all your gift giving needs. There will be more
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“phased, branded destination with a sense of place and community.” Weeks also said that there would be an eco feel to the neighborhood including open space, a small commercial section and multiple pocket parks with links to the natural areas and wetlands that the property abuts. “Using verticality, this plan gives less of a footprint.” Weeks said in response to Councilman Buddy Fowler’s concern about the high density project. “We could get all 3,242 units or we could make changes and adapt over time.” In response to the proposal, during the public forum Bob Forand, a resident of
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