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West Craven Highlights
News From Along The Hanks Of The Neuse
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News From Along The Ranks Of The Neuse
VOLUME 12 NO. 5
FEBRUARY 3,1989 VAWCEBORO. NORTH CAROUNA PHONE 244-0780 OR 946-2144 (UP8P 412-110) 25 CENTS ' SIX PAGES
The Fog Comes.
...but not always on little cat feet. Contrary to Sandberg’s poetic
accounting, sometimes the fog roUs in on tiger paws. Along a Down
East river and her rills and banks, winter mornings can become
clouded in moist mystery as nature’s sharp lines and images fade in
Rivers Not Always
Like They Are Now
Although we live with the area
rivers every day and may think
we know it well, the truth is
many of us don’t really know
much at all about its geologic ori
gins, about the life it has ted in its
ancient existence.
It was discussed here last week
that due to the Greenhouse
Effect and sea-level rise, low-
lying areas all along the length of
the Down East rivers may be
underwater within another cen
tury.
l^ile that certainly is a fHght-
ening prospect, geologists teU us
that the ocean has come up this
way before, and that it has even
been up as far as Raleigh in the
distant past. Natural warmings
and coolings of the Earth have
senttheseabackandforth across
Coastal Plain many times during
the Earth’s history, and of course
tln^amlico has bran affected in
the process.
To go back to the essential be
ginning, it is estimated that the
drainage path that is the Neuse
River is at least 3 million years
old. ’Throughout that time the
river’s source has been in the
Piedmont area of the state, and
there have always been hun
dreds of creeks and streams
Analysis
Lady Eagles Hold
On To No. 1 Spot
within the watershed feeding the
river as it wound toward the sea.
But that doesn’t mean the river
has always looked like it does
now. In fact, if we skip forward to
only about 18,000 years ago, we’d
see that the river was very diffe
rent ffom today.
At that time the Earth was
coming out of its last great ice
age, which had been going on for
several thousand years. During
ice ages huge amounts of water
become locked in glaciers and
polar icecaps, and so sea level
falls dramatically.
About 18,000 years ago, then,
sea level was as much as 400 feet
lower than it is now. ’That means
that not only were the Pamlico
and Albemarle sounds dry land,
but that there was dry land
almost all the way out to the edge
of the Continental Shelf, which
extends 20 to SO miles past the
Outer Banks.
The Neuse was just a thin river
then, similar to ones we can see
in North Carolina’s Piedmont to
day. ’The forests all around were
(See RIVER, Page 5)
By MO KROCHMAL
Sporit Editor
West Craven’s girls had the
answer every time Washington
asked: "who’s No. 1.”
In a Class 3-A Coastal Con
ference confrontation in the
Washington High School gym
nasium Friday night, the Lady
Eagles, ranked No. 1 in the
East, emerged in sole posses
sion of first place in the confer
ence standings by holding off a
game challenge by the No. 8-
ranked Lady Pam Pack, 44-41.
The Washington boys
answered West Craven’s chal
lenge with a 59-48 triumph
while the Pack junior varsity
emerged with a 71-63 win.
West Craven girls’ coach Liz
Cox said her Lady Eagles’ win
“wasn’t pretty.’’ She credited
her team’s ability to hold on to
(See EAGLES, Page 5)
Movie-Making Taking
Chance In Eastern N.C.
Br MIKE VOSS
Edilor
’Two months ago the question
was whether a film-development
company could make a go in
eastern North Carolina. Accord
ing to the three men behind the
idea, the answer is a resounding
"yes."
After Thanksgiving, Washing
ton's William M. “Bill” Zachman
and two Hungarian-bom Israelis
—Janos Edelenyi and Paul Sala-
mon — formed a film-
development company and be
gan looking for investors.
Hie men found eastern North
Carolina, once the boyhood
home of famed filmmaker Cecil
B. DeMille, a fertile ground for
what investors needed to get the
company on its feet. Zachman
said the company needed
$150,000 before it could begin
thinking about producing films
and television shows. With more
than a half-million dollars and 90
percent of the investors coming
from central part of eastern
North Carolina, the trio feels se
cure in its movie ventures.
Zachman is serving as execu
tive producer of “The Rebels,"
the company’s planned first film.
Alter discussions with Zachman,
the two Israelis decided to form a
partnership because they were
impressed with Zachman’s “ex
ceptional understanding and
business wisdom” of film pro
duction.
Work on “The Rebels” is sche
duled to begin later this year. The
company is expected to begin
contract negotiations with En-
glish-bom actor Michael York
and Lindsay Wagner for the lead
roles. York is “excited” about the
project, Edelenyi said.
Edelenyi and Salamon left
their native Hungary for "politic
al complications” and artistic
reasons in 1976. They moved to
Israel and became Israeli
citizens. Before pulling up their
roots and moving to Israel, they
had "become a substantial
embarassment to the Hungarian
government” for not following
the Communist Party line.
Salamon’s standing in Hun
gary is akin to Aleksandr Solzhe
nitsyn’s standing in the Soviet
Union, Zachman said. For that
reason, and Edelenyi’s standing
In films and television, the two
were received as "returning
heroes” when they approached
the Hungarian government ab
out participating in their dream,
Zachman said.
The American-Israeli-
fSee FILM, Page S)
Rep. Perdue
Introduces
Bill On Veto
Suggests Changes In Terms
For Governor, Legislators
the smoky white cover. While motorists bemoan it for a lack of
visibility, perhaps it is that same quality that makes the fog a most
attractive phenomenon—it is nature’s way of slowing us down and
giving us an appreciation for our surroundings. (Ric Carter photo)
By MIKE VOSS
Edilor
Rep. Beverly Perdue of Craven
County introduced a bill last
week that would eliminate
gubernatorial succession, but
change the term for the governor
fiom four to six years.
Mrs. Perdue, who represents
Craven, Pamlico and Lenoir
counties (Third District), in
cluded in her bill a provision to
change the terms in the General
Assembly fiom two to four years.
“I feel that the terribly high
cost of campaigning for federal
and state office forces us to look
at several changes in our present
electoral process so that we can
continue to attract people firom
all walks of life to public service.
Also, part of my bill will be a sec
tion to give the governor veto
power with a provision that it can
be overridden by a vote of two-
thirds of the members of each
house,” said Mrs. Perdue.
Mrs. Perdue said she Republi
can members of the General
Assembly are seeking to obtain
“line item” veto for governor.
This type of veto would allow a
governor to veto selected indi
vidual items in any piece of leg
islation. “When the governor has
a 'line item’ veto, the experience
in other states has been that he
often holds hostage a provision
in any bill of importance to an
individual member or area of the
state in order to force coopera
tion on some other issue. I do not
feel that this kind of power poli
tics would be good for North
Carolina. My veto proposal uses
the federal method, which I feel
history has demonstrated to be a
sound part of the checks and ba
lances that are the foundation of
our democracy,” said Mrs.
Perdue.
“I feel that the governor should
be given veto power, however, I
feel that to maintain a democra
tic balance of power between our
state’s executive and legislature,
that succession and longer terms
for the governor and the General
(See PERDUE, Page 5)
Eagles’ Becton shoot* over Pack’s Smith
Money, Travel Lure
NWA Lady Wresder
By HIKE VOSS
Editor
Misty Blue went to work last
Thursday night and made short
work of her task — pinning her
opponent in a professional wrest
ling match.
'Die pin against Linda Dallas
added another win to Misty
Blue’s undefeated record as the
reigning National Wrestling
Alliance’s women’s world cham
pion. She leaves no doubt as to
who the “good guy” is when she
enters the ring clad in red, white
and blue and covered with a
gold-sequined cape and wearing
file chainpionship belt
Linda Dallas, dressed in black
and accompanied by a hench
man, another female wrestler,
found herself facing a hostile
crowd in Washington High
School’s gym.
Why would a woman want to
be a professional wrestler?
Money and travel, said Ms.
Blue, 28, a native of upstate New
York. A former high school bas
ketball player and track perfor
mer, Blue decided to enter box
ing. But there were few oppo
nents “and it was not worth my
while.”
Women’s wrestling was
already an established event and
she traded in her left hooks and
jabs for arm locks and even some
hair pulling.
She credits her undefeated
standing after five years in the
squared circle to IVt years of
(See MISTY BLUE, Page S)
Press Club Selects
Futrell As President
CHAPEL HILL — The pub
lisher of the West Craven High
lights, A.B. “Brownie” Futrell
Jr., was elected president of the
North Carolina Associated Press
Club Thursday.
Futrell was elected to succeed
Jay Banks, publisher of the
Asheville Citizen-Times. Other
new officers are First Vice Presi
dent John Ashcraft of Monroe,
Second Vice President Ted Hall
of Shelby. The secretary-
treasurer is Ambrose B. Dudley,
chief of the North Carolina
bureau of the Associated Press.
The club comprises the Associ
ated Press members in North
Carolina and oversees the opera
tions of the news cooperative.
The election was at the news
service’s annual meeting, held in
coivjunction with the North Caro
lina Press Institute which is
under way at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill
and Duke University.
Thespeakeratthemeetingwas
Burl Osborne, president and edi
tor of the Dallas Morning News.
Futrell is a member of the
Board of Directors of the North
Carolina Press Association. He is
a former president of the Associ-
fSee FUTRELL, Page 5)
Restaurant Manager
Shot, Man Charged
A Vanceboro man faces an
assault charge after he was kick
ed out of a restaurant, returned
and allegedly shot the restaurant
manager, said a spokesman with
the Craven County Sheriff's De
partment.
William James Dawson, 38, of
Rt. 2, Box 778, Vanceboro, was
charged in the handgun shooting
of John B. Jones, 62, of Rt. 3, Box
51, Vanceboro, said the sheriff's
department The shooting occur
red about 2:45 p.m. at Frank’s
Snack Bar on U.S. 17 by-pass,
said Lt J.C. Woolard of the sher
iff's department
Dawson was charged with
assault with a deadly weapon
with intent to kill inflicting se
rious injury, said Woolard. He
was jailed Saturday under a
$25,000 bond and made his first
court appearance on the charge
Monday.
Jones was admitted to Craven
Regional Medical Center after
the shooting and was listed in cri
tical condition on Monday, said a
hospital spokesman. He was
admitted to the intensive care
unit with a gunshot wound to the
head, said the spokesman.
Woolard said Dawson has been
told to stay out of the restaurant
the week prior to the shooting.
The incident was reported to au
thorities by a customer and
Mend of Jones’ who was in the
snack bar at the time of the shoot
ing, said Woolard.
No motive was given for the
shooting and the investigation is
continuing, said Woolard.