The Island Packet from Hilton Head Island, South Carolina • 29

Classified Ads Harney Quinn Bryant Rukeyser Page 14 Page 8 Page 5 Page 6 THE ISLAND MCKET Business August 30 1985 SECTION WTGS to go on the air despite cable setbacks EJMEEWij BBgj jgg 7 TJEEMeEISjBb (WHHczzri EWsR'WiEElsSpPOvlEBH EwB 'tr 7 John Bailie in the master control room IWa" By NANCY RUTTER At 6:30 am Sunday morning WTGS channel 28 a new UH inde pendent television station will go on the air giving the Lowcountry an other viewing alternative At that same hour WTGS presi dent general manager and co owner John Bailie hopes to prove the new kid on the block can give the neigh borhood giants a run for their mo ney When Bailie the 42 year old mav erick behind the start up station be gan planning the Sept 1 on air date of WTGS 18 months ago the story one of the little guy vs the big It was simply the story of a part nership Bailie and American Communications and Television Inc (ACTV) a diversified telecom munications corporation based in Gainesville la jumping into a market where they believed a view ing void existed and money could be made But a US Court of Appeals deci sion in mid July changed the tale On July 19 a federal judge struck down the ederal Communications so called car ry" rules which required cable op erators to carry all commercial sta tions within 35 miles of the community served as well as other stations in the same television mar ket and those viewed in the The decision was largely cele brated by cable operators here and in other parts of the country be cause it allowed them to drop dupli cate stations they had been required to carry beginning Sept 3 But for Bailie the ruling meant he was faced with being squeezed out of the market just as WTGS was sign ing on the air While the station's signal is so powerful consumers on Hilton Head clean their teeth with according to Bailie transmitting WTGS programming would be easi est through existing cable opera tions Without cable Bailie said con sumers who want to watch channel 28 have to switch their TV sets over to UH and hook up a or UH antenna to the back of their televisions Some 95 percent of all homes in the area according to the latest Neilsen Ratings Service statistics have UH receiving capability WJCL (Channel 22) in Savannah an ABC affiliate requires such a hook up so many households have some kind of UH antenna already according to Bailie And if they Bailie said spe cific plans have been made by WTGS to deliver bow tie hook ups to consumers who want to receive the station Still Bailie would have preferred (See TV Page 2 C) Gas prices: Down recently but up from last Labor Day CHARLOTTE NC Gasoline prices in the Carolinas have dropped almost 2 cents a gallon during the past eight weeks but motor ists will still be paying more for their fuel this Labor Day than they did a year ago In South Carolina the price is up nearly 4 cents a gallon In North Carolina it has in creased by over 2 cents This reverses a downward trend for Labor Day gas prices started in 1982 Carolina Motor Club's Labor Day survey of 148 service station in the two states shows the average price for a gallon of gas is $1226 in North Carolina and $1243 in South Caroli na The average price for a gallon of gas throughout the continental United States is $1269 a 44 cents per gallon increase over last Labor Day Prices have increased throughout the nation during the past eight weeks This is except for the Southeast where they dropped 4 cents a gallon and in the Southwest where they declined a full 2 cents a gallon New Jersey continues to have the lowest prices in the nation at an average of $1126 per gallon Minnesota now has the highest at $1345 per gallon "We re fairly confident that we have al ready seen the highest price we'll pay for gas this year" said Ralph Peters president of the Carolinas' affiliate of the American Auto mobile Association the easing back of heavy vacation travel and with prices for crude oil dropping steadily we should be entering a period of uninterrupted declining prices that will prob ably continue until spring of next Pet srs said The motor club is expecting more travel this year over the long Labor Day weekend than last year Steve Harwell manager of the club's auto touring department in Charlotte said for holiday trip information are up about 10 percent over last year hopeful that motorists will remem ber to be careful when they get behind the wheel" Harwell said year there were 19 deaths on North Carolina highways and 10 on South Carolina roads during the Survey findings indicate 78 percent of the service stations in both states plan to staypen during their nounal pperating hours throughout the Labor Day weekend Thirty five percent of the monitored stations report ed they will be open 24 hours a day throughout the period Motorists pumping their own fuel will save an average of 207 cents a gallon compared to the cost of letting a service station attendant pump it for them This is slightly over a cent less in savings than it was Independence Day this year and Labor Day a year ago Despite price increases in Raleigh NC Rocky Mount NC and Charleston prices were down in all major Carolinas cities mon itored by the club North regular grade gap now av erages $1082 and unleaded $1167 per gallon at self service pumps ull service prices are $1298 for regular and $1358 for unleaded In South Carolina regular grade at self service pumps averages $1091 and unleaded $1186 per gallon ull Service prices are $1318 per gallon for regular and $138 for un leaded During the past eight weeks full service prices in both states fell an average of 24 cents per gallon while self service prices slipped only 13 cents a gallon Diesel prices dropped an average of a cent a gallon in North Carolina and 26 cents a gal lon in South Carolina In North Carolina die sel fuel averages $116 per gallon for self serv ice and $1242 per gallon for full service South AVERAGE GAS PRICES IN SOUTH CAROLINA ON LABOR DAY 1979 1985 fe $131' S1251 S1243 1 $1204 BB 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 Source: AAA Carolina Motor Club Gasoline prices are up and down Carolina's prices for diesel fuel are $1111 per gallon for self service and $1283 per gallon for full service Prices for premium unleaded fell 9 cent per gallon in North Carolina and 11 cents per gallon in South Carolina In North Carolina this higher refined fuel costs $1288 per gallon for self service $1439 per gallon for full service South Carolina's prices for premium unleaded are $1286 (See GASOLINE Page 2 C) Outlet mall project slated for October By RICHARD McDONALD Construction on the 21 store outlet mall planned for Hilton Head should get under way by early October with the shopping plaza being open by next ebruary or March its de veloper said this week decision's been made We feel we have been fairly dealt with We are now ready to proceed with building a project people can be proud of what a representative of the Brentwood Tenn based Compa ny Stores Development Corp said Wednesday after the town Board of Adjustment voted Monday to deny an appeal 482 islanders had filed pro testing the mall planned for William Hilton Parkway (US 278) And the project is going ahead even though the Hilton Head Island Chamber of Commerce wrote a let ter to the Board of Adjustment questioning whether the as yet un named mall should be built the first time the Chamber has come out with such a letter Buryi McClurg vice president for the development firm said in May his plans were for an Oc tober 1985 opening But the appeal filed July 8 and three subsequent Board of Adjustment meetings have delayed opening for the 21 linen clothing sporting goods toys dishes and designer label stores McClurg said After they receive a town building permit expected to come next week according to the chief inspector the Outlets Ltd offi cials will try to nail down leases for many of the 12 remaining spaces still not spoken for Outlets Ltd a division of Company Stores Devel opment Corp would then begin building the 85000 square foot mall McClurg said suspect it might be the first part of McClurg said of begin ning construction anticipate it may take us four months to build changed essentially We've gone along with the conditions of the town essentially We an ticipate any more McClurg said The one building 85000 square foot complex will front William Hil ton Parkway in front of Long Cove Club and the Long Cove golf course directly between the Citizens and Southern National Bank of South Carolina building and Plantation alls Legendary Golf a miniature golf course that opened recently going to See a nice presentation going to see a building set back in the McClurg said not going to see just a straight line I think the is landers will be pleased with it intent always was to put to gether a very nice center that is not offensive in any way to the people of Hilton Head and to have quality stores" McClurg said Definite tenants so far include Ai leen a clothing store Van Heusen clothing Totes a luggage and um (See MALL Page 2 C) Chamber lawsuit draws a bead on By AILEEN MULHERN COLUMBIA Beaufort County Councilman Ron Atkinson of Lady's Island is among the plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed this week challenging the practice of bobtailing legislation onto the state budget am against pork barrel poli tics" Atkinson said Some legis lators "splash millions of tax dollars into their home without the expenditure being debated he said The bill drew a mixed reception among lawmakers Wednesday with the Senate senior member saying he hopes the suit will resolve the is sue "Good has come out of bobtail ing and it's been overdone" said State Senate President Pro Tempore Rembert Dennis Berkeley think that once and for all the issue should be resolved SC Chamber ol Commerce offi cials said Tuesday they have filed a lawsuit with the state Supreme Court challenging the SC General Assembly's practice of attaching non germane bills onto the state ap propriations bill While Dennis said he has no quar rel with the Chamber for bringing the suit he said its members are pri marily concerned with just one bill that passed by the b' ht ruling method during the last session "Of course the Chamber's princi pal interest in it is one piece of legis lation which is the deduction of em ployee he said In its suit the Chamber gave as an example of a non germane bill a pro vision of the appropriations bill that allows state employees and retirees to have state employee association dues deducted from paychecks or re tirement checks Atkinson said that the state Cham ber was looking for someone from the Lowcountry to support the law suit He said he lent his name to the cause because he is "against waste ful spending and for "making ev ery tax dollar count" Beaufort is a "donor" county At kinson said He said more tax dol lars are paid out than returned to the county and that the taxpayers should know where the money is be ing spent Sen James Waddell Beaufort said the courts are not the place to settle the issue "I think there could be other ways of settling Waddell said Re form could be accomplished within the General Assembly because many legislators are concerned about the practice he said As the acting chairman of the Sen ate inance Committee Waddell BMP Jennings McAbee said he saw incidents during the 1985 86 appropriations bill proceed ings where the practice of bobtailing was abused State Rep Jennings McAbee McCormick also said the dues checkoff issue was the Chamber's main motive for the suit He blasted the Chamber for bringing the matter to court only thing they're mad about is dues checkoff" McAbee said "1 think it a danee precodpnt to Ron Atkinson I Sgt ijy ask the court to rule against another branch of state government McAbee said bobtailing is a nec essary part of negotiating compro mises on certain issues "How about the Education Im provement Act It you want to carry it to extremes that was bobtailed McAbee said "It's awfully difficult in one way or another to find a part of state government that re lated to the appropriations Waddell agreed sayinc that the Education Improvement Act and medically indigent bill were tacked onto other legislation "It is very difficult to determine when dealing with state agencies what doesn't deal with money" Waddell said The chairman of the House Rules Committee said she also is opposed to bobtailing but said the suc cess would cause a lot of problems for legislators "The suit does pose certain diffi culties in changing the rules in the middle of the said State Rep Jean Toal Richland "If bobtail ing is chaotic this would perhaps be equally chaotic" Mrs Toal said House members have tried for nine years to adopt more stringent rules on what legis lation may be added to the state bud get bill but have not been able to convince senators to go along "Maybe it will increase interest on the part of the two bodies on getting together on some joint rules" Rep Harriet Keyserling Beau fort said the plaintiffs are right but that their motives are not pure She said much legislation could be af fected by a court ruling on the prac tice "It may affect a lot of things the chamber of commerce fought to have legislated" she said An example would be the repeal of the inventory tax Mrs Keyserling said that (bobtailing) isn't the way to write laws the current rules that exist that keep items from being voted on are just as wrong is a symptom of what is wrong with the system" she said The suit lists as plaintiffs nine state taxpayers and the SC Busi ness Legal oundation Inc Besides Atkinson plaintiffs in clude WM Self of Green wood president of Greenwood Mills Inc and the SC Chamber of Com merce Greenwood Mills is a parent firm for Palmetto Dunes Resort Other plaintiffs are Martha Chapman of Spartanburg County Craig Wall Jr of Horry County Richard Greer of Greenville County Arthur Clement Jr of Charleston County Thomas Gre gory of Lexington County Leo Maguire of Lancaster County and Ervin Dargan of Darlington County The list of defendants include SC Superintendent of Education Charlie Williams State Treasurer Grady Patterson SC Commissioner of Agriculture Leslie Tindal Gov Richard Riley Lt Gov Michael Daniel and the SC Employee Association Hw I.