Posted on 4/8/2009, 1:57:47 AM by abb
Two men were arrested Tuesday night and charged with disruption of official meetings during the Wilmington City Council hearing on the proposed annexation of the Monkey Junction section of New Hanover County.
The charge is a Class 2 misdemeanor and the two were to see a magistrate Tuesday night, police said.
Several hundred people showed up for the annexation hearing inside council chambers. Most protesters didn't make it inside for the hearing.
Inside chambers there was a considerable police presence, including undercover officers.
ping
http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20090407/ARTICLES/904079977/1155
Large turnout expected at annexation hearing
http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20090406/ARTICLES/904064010/1155
First of two tax protests involves Monkey Junction annexation
Wilmington - where? Delaware?
North Carolina
No—North Carolina.
Wilmington is near the coast, not far from the South Carolina border.
Wilmington, NC. I had seen a story earlier today about “Monkey Junction” in some earlier postings on another Tea Party thread. Apparently, the Wilmington Tea Party people got involved in this issue, too. I’ll see what else I can find out.
http://www.wwaytv3.com/monkey_junction_annexation_vote_comes_tuesday_night/04/2009
Monkey Junction annexation talks Tuesday night
http://wilmington.johnlocke.org/blog/?p=1494
Taxpayers rally tonight in Wilmington
There’s a great Italian restaurant at Monkey Junction...mussels are fantastic. Think it’s called Georgio’s.
Just curious if the two arrested are “known” to the organizers, or in the community or not? In light of the left’s announcement that they will seek to infiltrate these protests, I’m just curious if the folks arrested were “patriots” or “plants”. LOL
http://www.insiders.com/wilmington/main-overview4.htm
Monkey Junction
At the southern end of College Road (N.C. Highway 132) where it joins with Carolina Beach Road (U.S. Highway 421), you’ll find an area that, in recent years, has experienced enormous growth, both commercially and residentially. Officially it’s called Myrtle Grove, but for years locals have called the area Monkey Junction. The name Monkey Junction dates back to the 1920s when the bus to Carolina Beach stopped at this intersection. An enterprising gas station owner, so the story goes, featured live monkeys as an attraction to draw customers from the bus. When the driver stopped, he announced, “Monkey Junction,” and that’s how it has been known ever since.
Vote Us In
We'll Vote You Out!
http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20070404/MAGAZINE20/70404011/-1/magazine50
Monkey Junction
Newcomers to Wilmington always get a good laugh when they first learn that the intersection of College Road and Carolina Beach Road actually has a name – Monkey Junction. Many assume Tregembo Animal Park had something to do with it, but it doesn’t. It does, however, actually have to do with a monkey.
Native Wilmingtonian Ed Letendre was about 6 years old when his first memories of this intersection developed – and they’ve stayed with him for 73 years. His aunt Dina and uncle Jack Spindle used to run a gas station there. And that gas station was the reason for the name Monkey Junction. To get the point across, Letendre draws a big ‘Y’ on a piece of paper. Back during World War II there weren’t as many roads around that area. Basically, you had Carolina Beach Road, which came from downtown and curved toward Carolina Beach. Then there was Piner Road, which intersected right at that curve, creating a junction. Right in the nook of that ‘Y’ is where his aunt and uncle built their gas station, where you could fill up and also buy packs of nabs and beer. “They brought the monkeys in there I think as an attraction to bring in the customers,” Letendre says. The store opened around 1939 and stayed open through the mid-1940s. During this time, Fort Fisher was re-opened by the army as an anti-aircraft training facility and hundreds of soldiers and Marines were passing by the little gas station. The monkeys were a curiosity and the soldiers would often stop to look at them.
Letendre’s aunt Dina had great big monkeys and little monkeys. The monkeys were cute and the soldiers were mischievous.
Eventually, the soldiers started handing the monkeys a bottle or two of beer that they’d buy. “It might have been funny to them, but monkeys are a lot like us,” Letendre says. “Some of them get really mean. Those little ones, I think, got really mean.”
Once the monkeys had learned to carry the beer, they moved on to throwing it at the soldiers. “They hurt too many men, I reckon,” Letendre says, and his aunt had to find them a new home. So while the monkeys moved, the name Monkey Junction will be there forever.
Thanks for posting.
We’ve had cities trying to prevent folks from getting permits to protest. We’ve had previous ‘party’ goers thrown out of meetings when chambers were emptied (anyone remember where?) and we have threats of disruptions, phony petitions, etc. Seems to me they are going to do whatever it takes to turn attention away from our cause.
Updated story.
Tax, annexation protesters take their messages to the street
Georgio’s is fantastic (and at Monkey Junction)...and if you order one of the main items, you get about three meals’ worth of food. The one I like even more is a couple miles north of that - Toscana. HIGHLY recommended.
I missed the meeting as I’m already in the city limits and experiencing the “joys” of Wilmington’s government.
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