Need to Know

Love Grove Park renamed for Blue

The Love Grove Community Park on Wynnwood Drive will be renamed in honor of Archie Blue at a dedication ceremony Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

Blue, a lifetime resident of Love Grove until his death in 1974, was active in the Community Boys and Girls Club and known for his musical talents and teaching ability, which he put to use when he founded the club's drum and bugle corps.

The park is to be expanded with bond money, adding another playground, basketball courts, walking trails and additional parking. City officials also plan to build a canoe and kayak launch with a state grant.

- Chris Mazzolini

New Hanover

N.C. bar honors Judge Corpening

District Court Judge Jay Corpening was recognized as a Citizen Lawyer by the N.C. Bar Association at its annual meeting last month in Asheville.

Corpening was among a group of lawyers recognized for service in the community. In addition to serving as a Family Court judge, Corpening has written as least six original mock trial scripts that have been performed in New Hanover County courts for more than 7,000 students.

Corpening also volunteers daily in the public schools, plays a key role in the local Youth Safety Summit and encourages school attendance through his service on the Family Court Juvenile Attendance Council.

The 1979 graduate of Wake Forest University Law School is involved in the Boy Scouts and its Order of the Arrow at the sectional, regional and national level.

Corpening was the only judge in North Carolina recognized as a Citizen Lawyer.

- Ken Little

COLUMBUS

Leader selected

for new prison

George Kenworthy has been named the first administrator for the new Tabor Correctional Institution, slated to open in 2008.

Kenworthy, superintendent at Lumberton Correctional Institution, will be responsible for opening Tabor Correctional, which will eventually house about 1,500 close- and medium-custody male inmates.

He also will supervise 515 correctional officers and support personnel.

Kenworthy began his career as a correctional officer in 1982 at the old Scotland unit in Wagram.

He has worked at McCain Correctional Hospital, Hoke Correctional Institution and Lumberton Correctional Institution, where he was named assistant superintendent for custody and operations in 2002.

- Tyra M. Vaughn

NAVASSA

Boat plant's buyer taking applications

Want a job with one of Brunswick County's biggest - and newest - employers, Brunswick Corp.?

The company's boat-building division, U.S. Marine, took over the Rampage Yachts plant in Navassa Tuesday. Besides hiring most of Rampage's 250 employees, it is looking to hire some more. It wants to get up to about 850 employees, which means 600 new positions will gradually be created and available.

Jim Rhodes, U.S. Marine's vice president of human resources, said job candidates should apply directly at the company's plant. Applications are available in the office from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. The plant, which will be building Meridian Yachts and Bayliner and Maxum cruisers, is at 100 Quality Drive in Navassa. The phone number is 371-3663.

- Ana Ribeiro

BOILING SPRING LAKES

Town may begin background checks

Background checks for present and future employees of Boiling Spring Lakes municipal government are on the horizon.

At its July meeting Tuesday, the Boiling Spring Lakes Board of Commissioners is expected to approve a resolution authorizing the local police department to complete background investigations of all 34 current city employees, said Linda Merry, city clerk.

The city previously did limited background checks on its parks and recreation department employees who work with children, based only on work experience within the county, she said. The idea came from county Parks and Recreation Department's new requirement that all sports league officials and coaches submit to full checks. Expanding background checks to include all city employees was a natural extension of the policy, she said.

The commissioners' meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the Community Center, 1 Leeds Road.

- Paul Jefferson

NAVASSA

Bigger budget boosts town police force

After considering whether to adopt a revenue-neutral property tax rate, the town of Navassa opted not to when it approved its budget Tuesday.

To be considered revenue-neutral - one which, taking growth into account, raises about the same amount of money as the present rate did before the county's tax revaluation - Navassa calculated it would have to set its rate at 12 cents for every $100 of assessed value. It set the rate, instead, at 20 cents, Mayor Eulis Willis said.

That means a Navassa resident whose $150,000 home has not changed in value since last year can expect to pay $300 this fiscal year, as opposed to $405 last year, when the tax rate was 27 cents. But if the home value has risen as much as the town's overall property value - 146 percent - the tax bill will increase to $738.

The new tax rate is projected to bring in $225,965 in property taxes, up from $150,000, according to the budget document. The town will use some of the money to hire five new employees, including two police officers, and buy two police cars, Willis said.

- Ana Ribeiro