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West Craven Highlights
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DECEMBER 1,1988
VANCEBORO, NORTH CAROLINA
PHONE 244-0780 OR 946-2144
(UPSP 412-110)
25 CENTS
SIX PAGES
Jobless
Figures
Increase
RALEIGH — Unemployment
in Craven, Jones and Lenoir
counties increased from Septem
ber to October, according to fi
gures released by the N.C. Em-
" ployment Security Commission.
Pamlico County's unempioy-
ment rate remained the same.
Craven County’s rate of unem
ployment increased flrom 3 per
cent in September to 3.4 percent
in October, the commission esti
mated.
It estimated that there were
1,110 members of the 32,790-
strong labor force unable to find
work in October. During
September, there were 32,840 in
the work force and 990 were
without jobs.
Jones County saw its unem
ployment rate increase from 2.7
percent in September to 3.5 per
cent in October. The work force
in Jones County totaled 4,050 in
October and 140 were unable to
find work. In September, there
were 110 unemployed out of the
4,000-member labor pool.
Unemployment in Lenoir
County increased from 3.4 per
cent in September to 3.6 percent
in October. Lenoir County’s
work force numbered 29,660 in
October, with 1070 without jobs.
The county had a work force of
29,480 in September and there
were 990 unemployed.
Pamlico County’s unemploy
ment rate was unchanged from
September to October with a 2.9
percent rate. There were 4,870
people in the labor force during
October and 140 did not have
work. In September, the work
force totaled 4,890 and 140 of that
number were without jobs.
According to the ESC figures,
81 counties reported unemploy
ment rates at or under 5 percent
for October. Currituck County
had the lowest rate with 1.8 per
cent and Graham County had the.,
highest with a 14.4 percent rate.
The state’s unemployment rate
for October was 3.8 percent, up
from September’s 3.1 percent.
The national unemployment rate
was 5 percent in October, down
fi'om 5.2 percent in September.
Improvements
To Highways,
Phones Asked
Vanceboro Residents Tell Panel
Thoughts On Planning Growth
Making improvements in tele
phone service and to U.S. 17 were
two suggestions Vanceboro area
residents made to committee
members of Craven County 2001.
The comments came last week at
a public meeting held at the Van
ceboro Town Hall.
After watching a video pre
sentation by the Craven County
2001 committee, residents said
they tended to agree with the
message of the video. That mes
sage is that either the county con
trols growth or the growth will
control the county as the 21st
Century approaches.
Lonnie Pridgen, a member of
the project’s finance committee,
not^: "It’s 13 years until 2001 —
not a lot of time to get things
evolved.”
George Dimick of Ernul ex
pressed his concern over tele
phone communication. He noted
that Vanceboro area residents
faced long-distance telephone
charges when calling Havelock,
Cherry Point Marine Corps Air
Station and other areas in the
county. Dimick said that many
residents near and in Vanceboro
worked in the long-distance loca
tions.
“It’s long-distance to call there
and one in 10 that work there are
from Vanceboro. The county is
divided by lack of communica
tion, that some places in the
county are long-distance," said
Dimick.
According to Dimick, he and
Vanceboro man have been trying
to solve the problem since 1974.
Vanceboro Mayor Jimmie
Morris told the committee that
"Highway 17 is a major problem
for the county." The U.S. 17 issue
has been echoed at three pre
vious meetings of the committee
in New Bern, Cove City and
Havelock.
Pridgen echoed Morris’s re
marks, saying that the highway
needed to be four-laned. “That
would do more for this area than
fSee MEBTINa, Page 2)
Area County
Jobless Rates
Craven 3.4%
Joneg 3.5%
Pamlico 2.9%
Lenoir 3.6%
East Carolina’s Kevin Staples sights in a jumper as LNC>C’s JellT Watson defends. The
Pirates’ Reed Lose hloeks out Marvin Dawson (30).iai intUui puw
Dawsons Homecoming Special
Former Eagle Standout Plays Before Family At ECU
By MIKE VOSS
Editor
GREENVILLE — Monday
night’s game against East
Carolina University was “the
biggest game to me on the
schedule," said Marvin Daw
son minutes after the Pirates
handed Dawson and his team
mates from the University of
North Carolina at Greensboro
a 68-49 loss Monday night in
Minges Coliseum.
Dawson, who grew up and
played high school and junior
college basketball just down
the road in Craven County,
was able to take the court in
front of his mother, father, sis
ter and brother, who made the
trip from Vanceboro and his
girlfriend from Greensboro.
Just about the only thing to
spoil Dawson’s “homecom
ing" was the loss.
“I was looking forward to
coming home and playing.
Some of my teammates from
West Craven (High School)
and Craven Community Col
lege were here to watch me,”
(See DAWSON, Page 5)
3 Eagles Named
AU-Area Players
Becton, Bizzell And Brown
Cited For Gridiron Prowess
New Report Says
Proposed Range
In N.C. Not Harmful
Electronic Warfare Practice
Would Cover Coastal Area
The 1988 Wendy’s-Washington
Daily News All-Area football
team is a coach’s dream—it has a
little bit of everything.
Players from Chocowinity,
Bath, Columbia, Creswell, Matta-
muskeet, Belhaven and James-
ville of the Tobacco Belt Con
ference; Roanoke, Williamston
and Plymouth of the Northeast
ern Conference; and Washing
ton, West Craven and D.H. Con
ley from the Coastal Conference
were eligible for selection to the
all-area team selected by the
Washington Daily News sports
staff.
The 25-member squad has a
quarterback, Bryan Tuten at
Bath, who mastered the complex
wishbone option and led his
team to a Associated Press No. 1
Class 1-A ranking for five weeks
of the season.
The team also has three run--
ning backs that each rushed for
over 1,000 yards during the
season.
The team has just three players
weighing 200 pounds or more —
Greg Smith of Washington, Fled
Leigh of Creswell and Darren
Bizzell of West Craven — but it
features some extremely hard
hitters and some players who
may not have had the physical
tools but made up for it with
heart, courage and determina
tion.
The team has speed in Joe Ran
dolph and Chris Cherry; quick
ness in Washington’s Jeremiah
(See ALL-AREA, Page 5)
By MIKE VOSS
Edilor
The Navy says the Mid-
Atlantic Electronic Warfare
AiMlMe in eastern North Carolina
will have no adverse effects on
people or animals.
Navy officials made the state
ment in a supplemental report to
a draft environmental impact
statement on the range. The re
port was received in Washington
Friday.
Theuseofthe range forelectro-
nic warfare has been opposed by
citizens — largely private pilots
— who are fighting the expan
sion of military restrictions on air
space along the coast. One
spokesman for the opponents,
Cecil Bradley of the Eastern
Aviation and Air Space Associa
tion, said he felt the Navy’s con
clusions were wrong.
Meanwhile, it was learned Fri
day that the Department of De
fense is developing a new agency
to handle military air space mat
ters—the Military Airspace Man
agement System. The plan came
to the attention of a private pilot
in Washington, Barry Gutfeld,
who received a reply to a letter he
had written to Assistant Secret
ary of Defense Gordon A. Smith
alraut military air space.
Bradley, chairman of the East
ern Aviation and Airspace Asso
ciation’s executive committee,
■aid his arouD was concerned
with microwaves and other elec
tronic emissions in restricted air
space and the electronic warfare
ranges. Bradley said there is in
formation that various electronic
equipment affects non-military
planes, other electronic equip
ment and human and animal life.
“We’re not the only ones
opposed to it,” he said. Bradley
also cited an incident in Nevada
where he said evidence tended to
show that military use of electro
nic warfare equipment resulted
in the death of cattle.
The supplement to the en
vironmental impact statement
had been sought by several spe
cial interest groups. Controversy
over eastern North Carolina air
space surfaced about two years
ago when the Marine Corps plan
ned to expand restricted space
over all or parts of Beaufort,
Craven, Carteret, Hyde and Pam
lico counties. Opposition grew
when the proposed electronic
warfare range was made public.
The draft environmental state
ment was distributed in June,
followed by an aircraft noise sup
plement and the electronic war
fare range supplement released
this month.
Miliary services say they need
the expanded military operation
al areas for low-level training.
The Marine Corps has held sevcr-
(See AIR SPACE. Pane 5)
Foggy And Froggy
While the foggy morning on the river recently was no problem for
these boaters, the sounds of croaking frogs may have disturbed the
early-morning quietness for the boaters. A slow, leisurely ride down
the rivbr is a good way to start off a day. Just substitute problems for
the boat and one can imagine those problems floating out of sight
and out of mind. If they are going fishing, well that’s another time-
honored way of forgetting one’s problems for a short whUe. (Ric
Carter photo)
West Craven Sweeps Greene Central
By JIM GREEN
Sports Writer
Senior forward Lamont Harris
converted both ends of a two-
shot foul with IS seconds remain
ing, leading the West Craven
varsity boys’ basketball team to a
64-58 victory over Greene Cen
tral Tuesday night.
The West Craven girls got 24
points from Chundra Croell and
16 from Linetta Bryant and over
came 40 turnovers to post a 55-39
triumph over the Lady Rams.
In the boys’ game, Lee Becton
scored 18 points, Tony Jenkins
chipped in 15 and Harris and
Johimy Gatlin added 10 each as
the Eagles evened their record at
1-1.
Greene Central. 0.1. was nared
by 14 points each from Tyrone
Streeter and Kenny Ormond.
Harris earned a trip to the fine
throw line after the Ifoms’ Reggie
Hill intentionally fouled him.
Harris calmly sank both shots to
give West Craven its margin of
victory as the Eagles took posses
sion after the free throws and ran
out the clock.
Greene Central had cut the
lead to four, 62-58, when Streeter
made both ends of a two-shot
foul with 27 seconds left. The
Rams tried to press, but Hill
fouled Harris with 22 seconds re
maining. Harris missed the one-
and-one, but Greene Central lost
the ball on a turnover and had to
foul.
The same was tiaht the whole
way as Greene Central had a one-
point lead three times in the first
half and West Craven managed a
seven-point lead twice.
Down 22-15 midway through
the second quarter, Greene Cen
tral used a 8-0 spurt—sparked by
back-to-back dunks from Tyrone
Sutton and Streeter and four free
throws by Sutton to take a 23-22
lead with 3:19 remaining in the
first half.
The lead switched two more
times before Gatlin swished a
baseline jumper with eight
seconds remaining as the Eagles
took a 32-31 halftime lead.
“We could’ve quit when they
had those two big dunks,” West
Craven coach Lorenzo Jones
said, “but we didn’t. The kids
kept scrapping and finally, in the
fourth quarter, they made some
good things happen to give us the
momentum back. The guys hung
in there the whole way.”
When Hill converted the front
end of a one-and-one with 3:40
left, Greene Central had pulled
within one, 54-53. But Becton
and Tony Jenkins converted
offensive rebounds into baskets
and Harris hit two free throws
with 43 seconds left to boost the
Eagles to a 62-56 advantage. West
Craven played the final three mi
nutes in a semi-delay offense.
In the girls’ game. West Craven
used a 1^2 run over the first four
minutes of the third quarter to
(See EAOLES. Page 2)