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Backyard Adventures Nature’s Way Farm and Seafood is Pender County’s only registered dairy with fresh goat cheese, feta, and other products. Read about the farm on page 1B.
Volume 45, No. 48
513 Roland Avenue Surf City, NC (910) 328-2105 www.shopthebee.com
POST Voice
Gridiron action
The Pender-Topsail
&
Thursday, September 3, 2015
Pender County football teams are on the field with Topsail and Trask and Pender into their non-conference schedules. Read more in sports beginning on page 8A.
Close to contract on Surf City school property
School Board meets with architects, moves ahead with school bond projects
Gas prices fall
By Andy Pettigrew Post & Voice Publisher The Pender County School Board met with architects contracted for the school bond projects at a lengthy meeting Tuesday night. Board members heard project plans from representatives from the firms and ideas on timetables for the projects. “The timelines on these projects are starting to shape up,” said School Board member Tom Roper. “Once the drawings are ready, then the bidding on the projects can take place. Once the construction contracts are awarded, the actual construction can begin. Right now, we are getting the drawings together and an inventory of what we want with the buildings – all the things we expect for the buildings to be. The renovations are fairly straight forward.” Roper says the School Board has some flexibility in design of the buildings, but the N.C. Department of Public Instruction has a number of requirements that must be followed. “Things like classroom size,
Walmart brings gas war to Burgaw By Andy Pettigrew Post & Voice Publisher A gas war has broken out in Burgaw as prices continue to plummet to the lowest petrol prices in Pender County. With the new Walmart gas station leading the way, the price of a gallon of gasoline fell to $2.08 in Burgaw over the weekend as the Scotchman at U.S. 117 and N.C. 53, and the Gogas station across from the Scotchman matched the Walmart price. Other sales points in Burgaw have lower prices than other stations in Pender County, but not as low as the three stations around Walmart. Prices are as high as $2.24 at one station in Burgaw. Rocky Point stations are holding prices up with a gallon of gas ranging from $2.33 to $2.35. In eastern Pender County, gas prices remain high compaired to Burgaw, with prices ranging from $2.31 to $2.35 per gallon of regular unleaded. Some areas of North Carolina – Raleigh, Charlotte and the Triad – are reporting gas prices that have fallen below $2 a gallon One year ago, gas prices in North Carolina averaged $3.34 a gallon.
hallways, things like that are mandated by the state. We have flexibility in wall, roof and exterior types, things like that. Our meeting was a mixed bag of general architectural discussions, where we go from here and how we get there.” School officials hope to be able to use previous designs from the architects to save money in design. “We don’t want to create anything crazy and spend a lot of money. Our goal is to reuse some very good, proven architectural stuff they have already done. We want to find buildings that are proof of concept for them. They have built them and they understand the cost are are proven to be good school designs,” Roper said. “We are looking for recommendations from the architects.” Roper cited Trask High School as an example of using
Continued on page 3A
Hot Spot list targets Burgaw problem areas By Andy Pettigrew Post & Voice Publishers Burgaw residents can now make police aware of problems through the department’s Hot Spot list. Burgaw Police Chief Jim Hock says the list is an opportunity for residents to tell the police about problems they observe and the information will be passed along to the patrol officers. “Many times I hear from people who are at the gas station, grocery store, or near their home and there is say, a four-way stop sign and people are running through that sign. I wanted one central location where citizens with safety concerns can let us know,” Hock said. “This way we can document it and let all the officers know. It’s basically where citizens have concerns for safety and traffic issues. I have the list posted on the door where the officers leave the office and as they work these areas I can show this is an area of concern and this is what we are doing to try to address
50 Cents
The Media of Record for the People of Pender County
Staff photo by Andy Pettigrew
Falling international oil prices and competition between gas stations in Burgaw have caused gas prices to plummet in Pender’s county seat. According to gasbuddy.com, the prices at this intersection in Burgaw are the lowest in Pender County.
May 23 accident killed two children at Sloop Point and U.S. 17
Driver indicted in Hampstead accident their concerns.” Hock says residents with concer ns can drop by the police department Monday through Friday or call the department’s non-emergency line at 259-4924. “If you seen an officer or myself out in Burgaw, let us know and we will put it on the list to make sure the other officers are aware of it,” said Hock. “This is not something that is really complicated. It’s just something I think we can use to protect the citizens and open up lines of communications.”
From Staff Reports Matthew Deans, age 29 of Wilmington, was indicted yesterday by a Pender County Grand Jury on two counts of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of Dobbs and Reed Eddings. Deans is scheduled to appear in Pender County Superior Court Sept. 2. Deans is charged in the deaths of the Eddings children that occurred in a traffic accident at the intersection of U.S. 17 and Sloop Point Loop Road in Hampstead May 23. The crash killed Reed Eddings, the unborn child of
Gentry and Hadley Eddings, who were also injured in the accident. Dobbs Eddings, age 2, was killed in the accident. The Eddings family was returning to Charlotte after attending a family event on Topsail Island. Gentry Eddings is a worship leader at Forest Hill Church in Charlotte. Hadley underwent emergency surgery at New Hanover Regional Medical Center following the accident to deliver the baby, who was flown to the N.C. Children’s Hospital in Chapel Hill. The child later died.
Matthew Deans
Program checks on those living alone By Andy Pettigrew Post & Voice Publisher Burgaw Police have revived a program to help the elderly and other individuals who may live alone. The RUOK program is designed to make regular phone calls to individuals who sign up with the Police Department to check on their well-being. “This is a program that was started a few years ago, but it’s down to just a few names on the list. I know there are a lot more elderly or those who live alone in Burgaw,” said Police Chief Jim Hock. “Individuals or family members can request contact from one
Continued on page 3A
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