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West Craven Highlights
.^MOBES Newi From Along The Hanks Of The Neine
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ASSSOUIION
VANCEBORO. NORTH CAROLINA
VOLUME » WO. 1
JANUARY 5, 1968
PHONE 2H-mM OR
(UPSP 412-110)
25 CENTS
■ SIX PAGES
Weyerhaeuser
Accident Leads
News From ’88
One Dies, Eight Injured;
Company Is Cited Later
)/
0
• Like so many game birds, mallards don't like to be watched while
dining. This small flock was spied as it had breakfast on the edge of
Fleeing A Marshy Home
(He Coftar alMlo)
Runyon Creek. One step too close and they launched themselves
straight into the sky, disappearing around the bend upeteek.
By MIKE VOSS
Editor
An industrial accident at the
Weyerhaeuser pulp mill between
Vancebooro and New Bern that
killed one man and injured eight
was the top news story in the
West Craven Highlights cover
age area during 1980.
Other top news stories were
the the plight of Northwest
Craven Water and Sewer District
customers, Vanceboro’s annual
Strawberry Festival and renova
tion of that town's community
center.
Accident
A New Bern man was died
ftom injuries he sustained when
a tank ruptured May 17 at the
Weyerhaeuser pulp mill, spew
ing a hot mixture of wood fiber
and bleach over him and several
other workers. Lonice E.
"Butch” Thomas Jr., 37, died
May 18 from complications from
suHocation.
Eight others were injured, in-
ciuding workers who attempted
to help those covered by the mix
ture. Two workers were critically
injured.
The company was later fined
$560and was cited for not provid
ing safe conditions by the N.C.
Department of Labor. The De
partment of Labor report con
tends Weyerhaeuser faiied to
adequately inspect equipment
for damage and that proper
maintenance was not carried out
on the equipment involved in the
accident.
Several fire and rescue units
ftom throught the county were
called to the scene.
The mill had been shut down
for about a week for routine
maintenance. The plant was
being brought back on line and
workers were working on a
pump near the 60-foot-tall tank
(See TOP 10, PageZ)
Warfare Range Hardware Bought
Proposal Not Approved,
But Marines Spend Money
The Marine Corps said budget
ary and timing reasons are
reasons behind its purchase of
millions of dollars of computer
equipment for use at its prop
osed — and controversial — and
as yet unapproved electronic
warfare range on the state's east
coast
Computer hardware for the$15
million combat-training system.
Tactical Aircrew Combat Train
ing System (TACTS), would be
used for part of the Marines'
proposed Mid-Atlantic Electro
nic Warfare Range (MAEWR)
was bought more than a year ago
— before a study of the
MAEWR's effects on the sur
rounding environment was com
pleted.
A public hearing on the en
vironmental studies of the range
is expected in January. (See re
lated story on this page).
Military officials said it was
necessary to spend the money —
plus $10 million in other finished
work — as part of the budgeting
and purchasing process.
The purchase of the TACTS
equipment was confirmed by Lt.
Col. Paul J. Lowery, assistant
director of operations at Cherry
Point Marine Corps Air Station.
He said the equipment is being
stored.
"We have been in the budget
ing process since 1981 for the
Mid-Atlantic Electronic Warfare
Range and the TACTS that is to
be a portion of that has been
ongoing in the procurement pro
cess at the same time,” said Low
ery. He said the Corps paid for
the manufacturing of the equip
ment between I'A and 2 years
ago, with the latest payment for
the computer hardware made in
the last six months.
Lowery said the TACTS com
munications subcontractor has
been put on hold until the en
vironmental impact statement is
finished.
“We cannot sit here and wait
until the EIS (environmental im
pact statement) is done before we
go to budgeting and before we
try to initiate the procurement
process. If we did, we would nev
er get a project done before it was
obsolete,” said Lowery. The con
struction of the project is ex
pected to be finished by the end
of this year. Payment is being
made in phases during different
stages of construction.
“Understand that the military
budgeting process, just like any
thing else that Congress budgets,
takes a while. You've got an en
vironmental process that goes
along, a permit process for the
construction sites and all these
kinds of things,” said Lowery.
Coordinating the processes is a
a monumental and hard task, he
said.
Money for TACTS comes ftom
Operations Navy Procurement
and if the project is “short-
circuited” the military is “out a
lot of money.” If that happened,
the equipment would be placed
somewhere else but not on the
East Coast. Lowery said the
North Carolina coast is “the
place to put it” in the east.
"The guys who fly the air
planes and confront the enemy,
that go to places like the Indian
Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea,
the Persian Gulf — where people
(See AIR SPACE, Page 5)
Military Activities
Reviewed By Panel
The first meeting of the N.C.
Coastal Resources Commis
sion's Military Activities Task
Force was to have been held
tod^ in Washington to review
environmental problems re
lated to military activities.
Tbe meeting was called by
James W. Hamilton of Jack
sonville, chairman of the Milit
ary Activities Task Force and
a member of the Coastal Re
sources Commission. It was to
start at the Holiday Inn at 10
a.m.
State, federal and local en
vironmental officials will re
view some of the environmen
tal problems along the coast
which involve military activ
ity. They include excessive
noise caused by aircraft, milit-
aiyairtraffic and the effects of
military operations on coastal
wildlife..
The 25-member task force
includes military officers of
the Air Force, Marines and
Navy, as well as local and state
government officials and
others involved in coastal
issues.
The public was invited to
the meeting.
A staff member of the West
Craven Highlights attended
the meeting and a report of the
meeting will be publisbed in
next week's edition of the
West Craven Highlights.
Phone Improvements
Slated For Vanceboro,
l^ew Bern Customers
TARBORO — Carolina Tele
phone & Telegraph Co.'s con
struction plans for this year in
clude the installation of about 45
miles of fiber-optic cable in the
New Bern-Vanceboro-
Washington corridor at an esti
mated cost of $978,000.
The project is scheduled to be
gin in June and end in October.
The system-wide plans for the
future included substantial in
vestment of capital to extend the
company's fiber-optic network,
sai^ company spokesman G.T.
^^^te, the firm's public rela
tions executive, said, "Many of
the valuable services that our
customers will want in the near
future are today acronyms and
phrases familiar only to telecom
munications people. They in
clude such terms as HDTV,
ISDN, enhanced security and
alarm, plcturephone and open
network architecture.
“Fiber-optic technology is the
most efficient means of expand
ing Carolina Telephone's net
work facilities to serve a growing
customer base and meet increas
ing demands for more sophsti-
cated and complex communica
tions services.”
Pate said that Carolina Tele
phone gained nearly 35,000 tele
phone access lines in 1988, which
brought the company-wide total
to about 748,000 lines.
“The integration of fiber optics
and digital switching by Carolina
Telephone is creating a state-of-
the-art network for our custom-
(See PHONE, Page 5)
Four Are Slightly Hurt
In Three-Vehicle Wreck
A three-vehicle accident in
Washington Wednesday in
jured four people, including a
Vanceboro'woman and her
children, and caused almost
$9,000 in damage to two cars
and a truck.
Police spokesman Joe
Stringer identified the injured
as Vicki Baskins Browii, 29, of
Vanceboro, and her thrra chil
dren, Jessica, 7, John, 2, and
Jenny, 11 months.
A spokesman for Beaufort
County Hospital said Jessica
was treated in the emergency
room and released. The others
did not seek medical atten
tion.
Stringer said the accident
occurred about 8 a.m. Wednes
day at the intersection of Fifth
and Market streets. He said
Mrs. Brown was driving her
1983 Mercedes east on Fifth
Street when her car and a 1977
Cadillac driven by Evelyn
Eakes Winslow, 48, of 106 Pan-
tigouch Drive, Washington,
collided as Ms. Winslow
attempted to make a left turn.
Stringer said a 1987 Chev
rolet pickup driven by Sandra
Edwards Latham, 31, of 811
Aycock SL, also collided with
Ms. Winslow's car.
Patrolman Michael Spruill
charged Ms. Winslow with
making an unsafe movement
Damages were estimated at
$1,500 to her car, $7,000 to the
Mercedes and $300 to the
pickup.
Workers inslalUnff fiber-oplic cable
Jobless
Figures
Increase
The rate of unemployment in
creased in Craven, Jones and
Lenoir counties during Novem
ber butdeclined in Hyde County,
according to the state Employ
ment Security Commission's
estimates.
The commission said Craven
County's rate in November was
3.6 percent, compared with 3.4
percent in (Ictober. Jones Coun
ty's rate was estimated at 4.2 per
cent in November and 3.4 per
cent in October.
Lenoir County had 1,120 peo
ple jobless in a work force esti
mate at 29,560 in November, for
an unemployment rate of 3.8 per
cent, the commission said. In
October the rate had been 3.6 per-
fSee JOBLESS, Page S)
West Craven Girls Avoid Sweep By Trojans
TRENTON—The WestCraven
girls basketball team avoided the
sweep and posted their best-ever
start by defeating Class 1-A
opponent Jones Senior in a non-
conference basketball game
Tuesday night while the Jones
boys recovered ft-om a two-game
skid in the ninth annual
Washington Daily News Holiday
Basketball Tournament with a
86-66 triumph.
Chundra Croell and Linetta
Bryant scored IS points each as
the Lady Eagles remained un
beaten at 9-0 with the victory.
In the boys' game, four players,
led by Johnny Gatlin's 19 points,
scor^ in double figures but West
Craven fell to 2-7.
Jones Senior won the junior
varsity game. No other details
were provided.
In other non-conference games
Tuesday involving Coastal
teams, Havelock swept a pair
from Kinston, East Carteret pul
led a home sweep against Pamli
co County, and D.H. Conley and
North Lenoir each split in varsity
outings.
In the West Craven-Jones girls'
game, Croell started the first
quarter by swishing two three-
pointers and the Lady Eagles rol
led to a 25-4 lead at the end of the
period.
“We're not even averaging 25
points a quarter," West Craven
coach Liz Cox said. “It surprised
me that we scored that many.”
Bryant keyed the defense with
10 steals as West Craven scored
several baskets off its transition
game.
Michelle Swinson scored a sea
son-high 14 points while Tera
Jones added 12 and Diane Brim-
age 10 for the Lady Trojans.
In the boys' game, Edward
Murphy scored 27 points as
Jones Senior, 7-3, turned a close
game at the hMf (35-26) into a rout
(64-36) by outscoring the Eagles
29-10 in the third quarter. Most of
the Trojans' baskets came as a
result of their transition game.
West Craven coach Lorenzo
Jones said.
Lee Becton had 14 points,
Tony Jenkins added 12 and Craig
Coward 10 for the Eagles. Roger
Croell scored a season-high 18
points while Donald Harper
added 13 for Jones Senior.
HAVELOCK - Kinston used a
ftiU-court press to rally against
Havelock in the boys' game but
Mark George scored on a missed
firee throw with 32 seconds left
and Kinston missed the back end
of a two-shot foul with no time
left as the Rams earned a 74-73
squeaker over the Vikings.
The Havelock boys improved
to 5-4 overall while the Lady
Rams emerged 8-1 overall wiUi a
47-37 victory. No other details
were available. Kinston won the
junior varsity game 69-57, drop
ping the jayvee Rams to 2-3.
FARMVILLE—Glenda Hardy
scored 19 points, Nikki Adams
added 15 and Conley's trapping
defense in the second quarter
keyed a 19-8 run as the Viukyrles
blasted Farmville Central 86-43
to improve to 8-2 overall.
(See EAGLES, Pag» 3>