Wilmington, NC News

Annexation continues to cause anxiety among residents near St. James. After a weekend of protests, the Brunswick County property owners are not willing to become a part of another jurisdiction without having a say.

When you think of the town of St. James, you most likely think about the gated community inside the town. It’s home to more than 3,000 residents. The town hall is inside the gates, but now town leaders want to annex parcels of land outside the gates next to the plantation and along Highway 211.

“If the towns want to grow, and have to grow, I think it’s a way to do it that is presently legal,” said Jim Gear, a St. James Plantation resident.

This weekend, residents and business owners rallied outside a local business, expressing their distaste for involuntary annexation.

The Midway Trading Post on highway 211 stands to be annexed by the neighboring town. If the plan goes through, the business would be subject to town zoning laws as well as taxes.

“We in America don’t believe that you take our rights without our vote. Not for golf, not for shopping centers, we vote in America, when it comes to taxation and our future,” said Curtis Wright of the Big Talker FM.

The land in question is along Highway 211, and some of it directly butts St. James Plantation’s property. Property owners within the plantation gates say sometimes annexation is just a part of life.

New perks from the GI bill have area service men and women giving more serious thought to higher education.

Biology class at UNCW for Allison Westpfahl is a far cry from her days serving in the Marines.

As of June, she ended active duty as a helicopter technician. She says once the call of duty has quieted, many service men and women wonder what’s next. “Where do I go from here? Do I get a job? Do I go to school? With the post 9/11 GI bill going back to school is made incredibly easy.”

And she’s not the only one.

Enrollment for veterans is on the rise at UNCW now that the new bill went into effect.

The new post 9/11 GI bill extends the education benefits of military members seeking higher education.

“It’s a lot easy than the Chapter 33 which was the old GI bill. You are not having to pay the university yourself, the GI bill pays your tuition upfront instead of getting reimbursed for it monthly,” Westpfahl said.

Anne Marie Beal, UNCW’s associate director of admissions said, “Where a lot of them would either put off for school or they might decide to go to a community college, this now allows them the financial flexibility.”

The new GI bill benefits go much further than just tuition. Veterans now receive funding for housing expenses, books, and can even extend the benefits to family members.

“I think it’s really positive. I’m enjoying my classes, the people I’ve been working with. I think I will do really well,” Westpfahl said.

The original GI bill is still available for anyone who entered the military after 1985.

The major difference between the two programs is that the post 9/11 bill includes funding for school related expenses beyond tuition.

Starting next fall, students at all 16 UNC schools, including UNCW, will be required to have health insurance. The plan has been in the works for years, but the UNC system’s Board of Governors only recently approved the mandate.

Students have a few options. They can either come to school with insurance from an employer or their parents. They can buy coverage through the school system, or have a combination of both.

School officials hope to offer a plan that costs about $700 a year. Right now, UNCW has a voluntary health insurance plan, which roughly 130 students sign up for each year. The director of UNCW’s Student Health Center said 10 to 15 percent of students there do not have health insurance at all. She wants to see each and every one covered, which this requirement will ensure.

“Too often you see somebody who doesn’t have health insurance, run into a situation where they have to make a choice whether to remain in school or leave in order to get the medical care they need,” said Katrin Wesner of UNCW Student Health Services.

Uninsured student Courtney Kim said, “iIt’s just really not worth it, I would say. I know that if anything major were to happen it would be pretty serious, but the premiums we would have to pay each month, if, say, I didn’t go to the hospital for two years, that amount of money would go towards nothing.”

Kim said her parents choose to pay out of pocket for her health expenses, and so far, that plan has worked out for them.

UNC officials said they will be able to offer a better plan at a cheaper cost with this requirement, because they will have the buying power of all 16 schools in the system.

The EPA has moved one step closer to passing a ban that would help rid area waters of sewage.

The bill would prohibit boaters from dumping any human waste in coastal waters within New Hanover County. Currently, there are no such bans within the state of North Carolina.

If passed, the bill would require waste be disposed of in one of several waste-pumping stations within the county.

Recurring swimming advisories in Wrightsville Beach raised questions about the bacteria levels in the water.

A UNCW study on the water quality found that human waste contributed to the high levels of bacteria. Officials at the Department of Water Quality said it’s a ban they would like to see up and down the Carolina coast.

Marina owners said they would support the ban, but raise questions about how it would be enforced.

One bill already on the books will affect our wallets starting Tuesday. The state’s sales tax goes up a full penny Tuesday, bringing the total rate charged in most counties to 7.75 percent.

At the same time, cigarettes, beer, wine and liquor will have higher excise taxes.

The higher taxes are part of $1billion in new revenues the legislature and governor agreed upon to balance the state budget.